Why “lemanry” is a great word
LEMANRY — [Noun] The condition or practice of being a secret lover, especially in a clandestine or illicit affair. From Middle English *leman* (meaning "lover, sweetheart, paramour"), itself from Old English *lēof* ("dear") + *mann* ("person"), combined with the noun-forming suffix *-ry* (denoting a condition or practice). First attested in 1483. Unlike "courtship," which denotes an open, sanctioned procession toward marriage, or "adultery," which specifies a breach of marital vows, lemanry is the broader, archaic craft of concealed affection. It is the rustle of silk in a midnight corridor, the borrowed key to a garden gate left ajar, the deliberate silence that follows a name too dangerous to speak—the quiet, costly commerce of the heart conducted in the margins of a lawful life.