pearl jam ""[Andrew] Jackson, a short-tempered warrior who had killed a man in a duel for aspersing his wife, had to endure scurrilous attacks on his wife as a bigamist."" Sid Moody, The Associated Press, 21 June 1992 Both asperse and aspersion are descendants of the Latin verb aspergere, meaning ""to sprinkle."" so the real question is, what did the man sprinkle Andy's wife with?