»swale

I knew the geographic term swale, "a trough that carries water following snow melts", a "marshy depression", but recently came across it used as a verb: "to consume or waste away", as a candle guttering in the late night. Apparently this is a North Yorkshire meaning, but must have some Scandinavian etymology. One of the characters in Bram Stoker's thrilling novel Dracula bears this name: a cantankerous, chatty old Scotsman, he lends the sombre tone to the beginning of the adventures that befall Mina Murray. I think of her as the heroine and protagonist of the novel, for she imbues strength in all the other central characters: Seward, Holmwood, and her husband Jonathan.