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and " magmts , " It may be derived , in a third way , according to Chaucer , who says , line 13 , 741 : — ., ¦ . " The giant Sire Olipharit swears by Termagauht . "
A corruption of Tervagan , said to have been a Saracenic deity . This term , says Johnson , " appears to have been anciently used of men , " but now a termagant is a brawling woman . And a hundred years hence our children mav talk of a termagant thing .
, " With victory was cock-a-hoop . " * This expression " cock-a-hoop " ( p . 106 ) , says Dr . Nash , signifies extravagance : the ~ cock drawn out of a barrel and laid upon the hoop , while the liquor runs to waste , is a proper emblem of inconsiderate conduct .
"' Shall we / quoth she , c stand still hum-drum , And see stout bruin all alone ?' . " + The word hum-drum is derived from hum , the noise of bees , and the Icelandic word drawms , says Johnson . "We imagine this to be rather far-fetched , and would derive " drum " from the German word " d ' umm , " stupid ; or the Saxon word " dumb , " which may in olden times have possessed another meaning beside mute . We should not
be surprised if the first syllable possessed no signification , for we have many compound words of which one syllable , added for the sake of rhythm , was meaningless . The significant syllables come generally first ; thus we have , as examples : hod & y-doddy , an awkward person ; hugger-mugger , a by-place ; whim-wham , a . trifle ; hoity-toity , an interjection of surprise ; and higgledy-piggledy , confusedly . As exceptions to the rule the following words may be given , and there are doubtless manv more which would be worth while noting down :
skimble-sk & mble , a reduplication from skamble ; Amdb-knack , from knack ; jick-a-jog , from jog ; and hip-hop , from hop . " Quoth she , mum , budget . "
These two expressions ( p . 114 ) are curious . Mum means " hush !" and budget seems , from the following passage in Shakespeare , to bo a reply : —
" I come to her in white , and cry mum ; and she cries budget . " Merry Wives , act v . sc . 2 . May not budget be a corruption of the words " budge it , " or " go off ? " The following line , but a little higher on the page , seems to lend weight to the idea : —
" I thought th' has scorn'd to budge a step For fear . " Page 124 , occurs the following : " And out his nut-brown whin-yard drew . " * Ooclc on the koojp , triumphant , exulting . —Camden , Johnson . t P . 109 .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Untitled Article
and " magmts , " It may be derived , in a third way , according to Chaucer , who says , line 13 , 741 : — ., ¦ . " The giant Sire Olipharit swears by Termagauht . "
A corruption of Tervagan , said to have been a Saracenic deity . This term , says Johnson , " appears to have been anciently used of men , " but now a termagant is a brawling woman . And a hundred years hence our children mav talk of a termagant thing .
, " With victory was cock-a-hoop . " * This expression " cock-a-hoop " ( p . 106 ) , says Dr . Nash , signifies extravagance : the ~ cock drawn out of a barrel and laid upon the hoop , while the liquor runs to waste , is a proper emblem of inconsiderate conduct .
"' Shall we / quoth she , c stand still hum-drum , And see stout bruin all alone ?' . " + The word hum-drum is derived from hum , the noise of bees , and the Icelandic word drawms , says Johnson . "We imagine this to be rather far-fetched , and would derive " drum " from the German word " d ' umm , " stupid ; or the Saxon word " dumb , " which may in olden times have possessed another meaning beside mute . We should not
be surprised if the first syllable possessed no signification , for we have many compound words of which one syllable , added for the sake of rhythm , was meaningless . The significant syllables come generally first ; thus we have , as examples : hod & y-doddy , an awkward person ; hugger-mugger , a by-place ; whim-wham , a . trifle ; hoity-toity , an interjection of surprise ; and higgledy-piggledy , confusedly . As exceptions to the rule the following words may be given , and there are doubtless manv more which would be worth while noting down :
skimble-sk & mble , a reduplication from skamble ; Amdb-knack , from knack ; jick-a-jog , from jog ; and hip-hop , from hop . " Quoth she , mum , budget . "
These two expressions ( p . 114 ) are curious . Mum means " hush !" and budget seems , from the following passage in Shakespeare , to bo a reply : —
" I come to her in white , and cry mum ; and she cries budget . " Merry Wives , act v . sc . 2 . May not budget be a corruption of the words " budge it , " or " go off ? " The following line , but a little higher on the page , seems to lend weight to the idea : —
" I thought th' has scorn'd to budge a step For fear . " Page 124 , occurs the following : " And out his nut-brown whin-yard drew . " * Ooclc on the koojp , triumphant , exulting . —Camden , Johnson . t P . 109 .