"That's a great deal to make one word mean," Alice said in a thoughtful tone. "When I make a word do a lot of work like that," said Humpty Dumpty, "I always pay it extra."
Saturday, 7 August 2010
Maugre
Maugre, as an adverb and preposition, meant notwithstanding or in spite of. It was usually found in poetry and is now obsolete.
I never heard this word before but it immediately strikes me that this must be part of the origin of the name Maugrim used for the White Witch's wolf in the book The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis...
My daughter Helen commented in November 2008 in her Blog that she was now keeping a notebook of new words that she came across during her reading. "This week I bought a lovely little leather bound book to write new words in as I read them . I've added a few from "1984", but my favourite has to be persiflage (from the French persifler) which means banter." I later discovered that my older daughter, Bryony, also kept a similar notebook.
This inspired me to create a Word blog. This will include both new words, favourite words and the origins of phrases that we commonly use. A definition and some comment, perhaps even a relevant quotation, will acompany the word or phrase.
“I am a Bear of Very Little Brain, and long words bother me.” - Winnie the Pooh
I never heard this word before but it immediately strikes me that this must be part of the origin of the name Maugrim used for the White Witch's wolf in the book The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis...
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