Cosset.

I was describing someone (OK, a chipmunk I’d been feeding) as “cosseted” when it occurred to me to wonder where that word came from. The answer is simple, interesting, and (to me) unexpected: a cosset is ‘a pet, usually a pet lamb’ (first in 1579: “I shall thee give yond Cosset for thy payne,” Spenser, Shepheardes Calender). That explains that, but where does the noun come from? That’s unclear; Wiktionary repeats Skeat’s suggestion that it’s from Old English cotsǣta ‘cottager,’ but I find that highly unconvincing. Somebody should look into it. Not worth making a separate post of, but I have a complaint about the OED’s entry (entry revised 2016) for filmstrip, defined as “A length of film bearing a sequence of still frames.” Here are the three citations: 1896 The camera is provided with a continuous strip of sensitive film, and..a negative is made of it upon the sensitive film strip. Weekly Irish Times 9 May 3/9Citation details for Weekly Irish Times 1962 Three new filmstrips, intended…