Lexicographer and TV personality Susie Dent recently embarked on a curious, self-appointed mission. She is determined to bring the word “respair”, last used around 1525, back into common usage.
“Respair”, Dent explains, means “fresh hope; a recovery from despair”. To her mind, the English language has something of a pessimistic bent. It tends to retain the negativity of various words, but not their more positive counterparts. For instance, we say “unkempt”, but have forgotten that “kempt” was once an adjective too.
