Termagant
English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]PIE word |
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*tréyes |
From Middle English Termagaunt (“fictitious deity represented as being worshipped by Muslims; any pagan god”),[1] from Anglo-Norman Tervagant, Tervagaunt, Tervagan, and Old French Tervagant, Tervagan (possibly with the addition of Anglo-Norman -aunt, Old French -ant (suffix forming past participles of verbs, some of which were used as nouns); modern French Tervagant (historical)); further etymology uncertain, one common suggestion being that it is from Latin ter (“three times, thrice”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *tréyes (“three”)) + vagāns (“rambling, wandering”) (the present active participle of vagor (“to ramble, roam, wander”), from vagus (“rambling, roaming, wandering”) (possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *Hwogos) + -or (inflected form of -ō (suffix forming regular first-conjugation verbs)). Medieval French chansons de geste named Termagant as one of three deities supposedly worshipped by Muslims, the others being Apollin and Mahound, and the name may allude to the wandering of the moon (the crescent moon being a common symbol of Islam) in the form of the mythological goddesses Selene in heaven, Diana on earth, and Proserpina in the underworld.[2][3]
Pronunciation
[edit]- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈtɜːməɡ(ə)nt/
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈtɜɹməɡənt/
- Hyphenation: ter‧mag‧ant
Proper noun
[edit]Termagant
- (archaic, historical) A fictitious deity with a violent temperament who featured in medieval mystery plays, represented as being worshipped by Muslims or (less commonly) other non-Christians.
- 1600, [Torquato Tasso], “The First Booke of Godfrey of Bulloigne”, in Edward Fairefax [i.e., Edward Fairfax], transl., Godfrey of Bulloigne, or The Recouerie of Ierusalem. […], London: […] Ar[nold] Hatfield, for I[saac] Iaggard and M[atthew] Lownes, →OCLC, stanza 84, page 18:
- 1819 December 20 (indicated as 1820), Walter Scott, chapter VII, in Ivanhoe; a Romance. […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co. […], →OCLC, page 82:
- "Now, in faith," said Wamba, "I cannot see that the worshippers of Mahound and Termagaunt have so greatly the advantage over the people once chosen of Heaven."
Derived terms
[edit]Translations
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References
[edit]- ^ “Termagaunt, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
- ^ “termagant, n. and adj.”, in OED Online
, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, July 2023.
- ^ “termagant, n.”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
Further reading
[edit]Anagrams
[edit]- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European word *tréyes
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *Hwogos
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Anglo-Norman
- English terms derived from Old French
- English terms derived from Latin
- English 3-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English lemmas
- English proper nouns
- English uncountable nouns
- English terms with archaic senses
- English terms with historical senses
- English terms with quotations
- en:Fictional characters
- en:Gods