descanso n. a roadside marker or memorial to a victim of an automobile accident. Etymological Note: From Spanish descanso ‘resting place (of a dead person),’ from the verb descansar ‘to (have a) rest.’ (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
A Winter Dictionary (Bookshop|Amazon) by Paul Anthony Jones includes some words to lift your spirits. The verb whicken involves the lengthening of days in springtime, a variant of quicken, meaning “come to life.” Another word, breard, is...
Mark in Bismarck, North Dakota, spent years as a sailor, and wonders about the term sea painter, meaning “a rope attached to a lifeboat.” Why painter? The word may derive from Middle French pendeur meaning “a kind of rope that...