mine an old word

[hengest]

English is chock full of words we don't even know or use anymore, and I mean stuff used in the past couple centuries that the bulk of speakers wouldn't recognize if they fell over them. Naturally, words can change their meanings with time. So pick a cool old word and imagine a new sense for it, some meaning it might have acquired in an alternate universe. This doesn't have to be linguistically plausible, just do it. Then you can build a setting around that, or at least start to.

Example:

lichyard (body-yard, graveyard)

In the country called Iren, a lichyard is a unit of measurement: the ideal length of the adult human body (about five of our feet). People have gotten taller in recent centuries, but the lichyard remains the same, which has begun to cause real problems (stooping the most common but far from the worst): doorways are an inch over the "lichyard" and no taller. This is only a hint of the challenges facing Iren and its rulers: how to carry their architectural legacy into the future while also accommodating reality? A strange effect of this situation is that nobles have been bred for short stature for several generations. 

[The Semi-Retired Gamer]

hengest I like the cut of your jib. 

Elflock – if you have wavy hair and you wake up with it tangled and mangled, that’s elflock, as though the elves have tied it into knots during the night. For instance, Geesh, have you seen the state of my elflocks today?

Legends speak of Elves being able to pass unnoticed in the wooded areas of the world.  People started using it for any activity that they became aware of later.  An example could be "I must have been elflocked not to notice that one of my chickens is missing" or "You must have been elflocked for the person that stole your gold to be able to sneak in here last night".

[hengest]

I dig your elflock, The Semi-Retired Gamer . I have long liked that word, but never thought of anything to do with it.

daymal (from Old English dægmæl, day-measure, 'clock, device for telling time')

This daymal looks almost like a barometer. Found only in the wizard's most private chamber in the heart of the keep, it fills with a fluid overnight. Over the course of the day, the fluid slowly disappears. 

When the wizard has had enough for the day, he pours out the remaining fluid and night falls.

[The Semi-Retired Gamer]

Thanks, hengest!  As soon as I read "elflock" I knew I had to come up with something.

Daymal?  nice word!