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Via Susie Dent, Word of the Day is ‘uhtcearu’ [ucht-kay-aru, with the ‘ch’ as in the Scottish ‘loch’]: Old English for ‘the sorrow before dawn’, when you lie awake in the darkness and worries crowd your mind.
It’s amazing to realise that this unpleasant phenomenon of neurochemistry is a thing that’s been around for thousands of years.
See also https://www.reddit.com/r/OldEnglish/comments/e7su8n/what_is_the_proper_form_of_uhtceare/
Tags: brains worry words uhtcearu uhtceare dawn morning neurochemistry