What many people may not know is that the first stanza was written while he was in Croft on Tees, close to Darlington, where he lived as a child, and it was printed in 1855 in Mischmasch, a periodical he wrote and illustrated for the amusement of his family. The piece was titled "Stanza of Anglo-Saxon Poetry"
Twas bryllyg, and ye slythy toves
Did gyre and gymble in ye wabe:
All mimsy were ye borogoves;
And ye mome raths outgrabe.
(Note the spelling of Gymble changed to Gimble in the 1871 version). Since Cat joked that she was was waiting for a definition of Gimble I decided to see if I could find one and I found four thanks to Merriam-webster and the Urban Dictionary -
As a verb it can mean to make a face or grimace or to make holes with a gimblet.
As a noun it means a good-for-nothing or a compulsive liar.
So now we know!
Did gyre and gymble in ye wabe:
All mimsy were ye borogoves;
And ye mome raths outgrabe.
(Note the spelling of Gymble changed to Gimble in the 1871 version). Since Cat joked that she was was waiting for a definition of Gimble I decided to see if I could find one and I found four thanks to Merriam-webster and the Urban Dictionary -
As a verb it can mean to make a face or grimace or to make holes with a gimblet.
As a noun it means a good-for-nothing or a compulsive liar.
So now we know!
The Jabberwock
I didn't know we owe "chortle" to Lewis!
ReplyDeleteWell, well, well. I never even thought about what many of the Jabberwock words meant. After all gyring and gimbleing in the area around a sundila seems such an odd thing to do in the first place.
ReplyDeleteHa Ha!
ReplyDeleteGood to see!
So many fabulous words, so little time. And i love Lewis and the way he strung words together.
ReplyDelete