It’s not really news that the word “smite” is obsolete and considered archaic by the language gurus. For me it has Biblical associations as in “…but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.”  And, I don’t think I’ve ever used its past tense form, “smit” in a sentence either spoken or written (until now.)  But “smitten” is another case entirely.

In fact, I was surprised that it comes under the “archaic” category.  When I was girl (yeah, yeah, yeah — archaic!) it was fairly commonplace to tease someone about being “smitten” with a member of the opposite sex, along the lines of “captivated” which is one of smitten’s synonyms. In modern parlance, however,  I’d probably say “She was absolutely gobsmacked by him,” and while I might mean “captivated,” I can’t imagine using that particular word.  Too old-fashioned by half!

Nyel and I took a bit of a bird walk on “smite, smote, smit, smitten” this morning during our morning coffee hour.  We even talked about what we visualized when the word “smote” was used in connection with “sword.”  Nyel saw the blade; I saw the flat of the sword.  I suppose I was thinking of the “turn the other cheek” part.  Hard to do if the blade edge was used first…

I actually think that our entire “smite, smit, smote, smitten” conversation boiled down to male vs. female points of view and influences on language…  But our cups were empty.  Time to face the day and see what new discussions will crop up withal…

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