Word Choice Part 5: Is it regency or modern?

I've been keeping track of some of the modern sounding words that come up while writing historical fiction. Sometimes, I look up words and am surprised they weren't in use the way I want them to. This situation leads to me writing a book about blackmail when blackmail wasn't a word in that way until 1826. (Check back for that book early 2026) But other times, words I think I'll have to replace turn out to be okay for my books set around 1812.

I use Google’s Ngram and the Online Etymological Dictionary along with primary sources in Google books to determine if a word was in use the same way as it is now. I'm content good with dates up to 1815-20, because words are often in use for a while before they're ever put into print. (What are Ngrams? I talk about how I use it here.)

First up is a dialogue tag. I mostly use "said" or, when it should be an exclamation, "cried." But sometimes a character interrupts or speaks hurriedly or impulsively. Wouldn't it be great if I could use "blurt"? Or use it as a verb and say a character is embarrassed he blurted his feelings. It turns out that blurt, as in "to utter suddenly or inadvertently" is from the 1570s. Both the verb and the noun are okay, but I'm not sure that my readers would buy it. Would you?

In a WIP, I wanted a way for Darcy to say that someone had "fudged" the details. Fudge was definitely an interjection, but was it a transitive verb? It turns out its meanings to devise as a substitute, or fake, is from1674. I chose not to use this one too. I thought readers would assume I made a mistake.

In yet another WIP that's awaiting its day in the sun, I have Darcy and Georgiana talking about the portraits at Pemberley needing to be restored. They might look dingy from coal smoke, nicotine smoke, or discolored varnish, but I couldn't use dingy, right? It turns out "dingy" as in "soiled, tarnished, having a dull, brownish color" (from grime or weathering) is by 1751. This is how I wanted to use the word, so it could stay. The later meaning of shabby, shady, drab is by 1855, but Georgiana and Darcy are talking about painting looking dull and tarnished, so I'm keeping dingy.

In that same project, I realized I had both Darcy and Elizabeth use the word "nowadays" in their thoughts. It ended up being in the draft four times so instead of changing it, I looked to see how far off I was, hoping that maybe it was close enough that I could go with it. Well, I was way off! Nowadays as in "these present times" is from the late fourteenth century! It's contracted from Middle English nou adayes (mid-14c.), from now + adayes ("during the day").

So Darcy can blurt out his feelings, fudge the details, and think something is dingy nowadays. I'm still only going to use the last two. Are there any words you've come across in JAFF or historical romance that have surprised you? When you looked them up, were they anachronisms or were they era appropriate?

Check out my previous post about this “Tiffany Problem” and to see some other words and phrases that might sound modern but were actually in use in Austen’s day.

• https://www.heathermollauthor.com/post/word-choice-part-1-is-it-regency-or-modern

• https://www.heathermollauthor.com/post/word-choice-part-2-is-it-regency-or-modern

• https://www.heathermollauthor.com/post/word-choice-part-3-is-it-regency-or-modern

• https://www.heathermollauthor.com/post/word-choice-part-4-is-it-regency-or-modern