termagant
noun
No English definition recorded for this entry.
L329189 on Wikidata ↗Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /ˈtɜːməɡ(ə)nt/ / /ˈtɜɹməɡənt/
adj
Etymology: PIE word *tréyes The noun is derived from Termagant (“fictitious deity with a violent temperament represented as being worshipped by Muslims or other non-Christians”), from Middle English Termagaunt (“fictitious deity represented as being worshipped by Muslims; any pagan god”), from Anglo-Norman Tervagant, Tervagaunt, Tervagan, and Old French Tervagant, Tervagan (possibly with the addition of Anglo-Norman -aunt, Old French -ant (suffix forming present 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. The reason for the shift in meaning from the fictitious deity to a brawling and turbulent person is unclear. The adjective is derived from the noun.
- Having the temperament of a termagant (noun sense 1); bad-tempered, brawling, boisterous, turbulent.
“[R]idiculous ſenſeles ſentences, finicall, flaunting phraſes, and termagant inkhorne tearmes throughout his booke, […]”
“O Cupid vvhat a Termagant tyrant art thou / Over poore ſubjects of ſixteene! There is not one / Among a hundred of thoſe tickliſh Trifles / But is more taken vvith a Toy at ſixteene / Then ſix and tvventy: […]”
- Of a woman, her behaviour, etc.: censorious, nagging, and quarrelsome; scolding, shrewish.
“[F]earing his Father ſhould knovv of it, and his VVife, vvho is a Termagant Lady: but vvhen he finds the Coaſt is clear, and his late ruffling knovvn to none but you, he vvill be drunk vvith joy.”
“But this Lady is ſo Termagant an Empreſs! and he ſo ſubmiſſive, ſo tame, ſo led a Keeper, and as proud of his Slavery, as a French man: I am confident he dares not find her falſe, for fear of a quarrel vvith her; […]”
name
Etymology: PIE word *tréyes From Middle English Termagaunt (“fictitious deity represented as being worshipped by Muslims; any pagan god”), 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.
- 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.
“For nations tvvaine inhabite there and dvvell / Of ſundry faith, together in that tovvne [Jerusalem], / The leſſer part on Chriſt beleeued vvell, / On Termagant the more, and on Mahovvne.”
“"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."”
noun
Etymology: PIE word *tréyes The noun is derived from Termagant (“fictitious deity with a violent temperament represented as being worshipped by Muslims or other non-Christians”), from Middle English Termagaunt (“fictitious deity represented as being worshipped by Muslims; any pagan god”), from Anglo-Norman Tervagant, Tervagaunt, Tervagan, and Old French Tervagant, Tervagan (possibly with the addition of Anglo-Norman -aunt, Old French -ant (suffix forming present 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. The reason for the shift in meaning from the fictitious deity to a brawling and turbulent person is unclear. The adjective is derived from the noun.
- A brawling, boisterous, and turbulent person or thing.
“[…] I do not find hovv his E[xcellenc]y can be juſtly cenſured for favouring none but High-Church, High-flyers, Termagants, Laudiſts, Sacheverellians, Tip-top-gallon-men, Jacobites, Tantivyes, Anti-Hannoverians, Friends to Popery and the Pretender, and to Arbitrary Povver, […]”
“[T]wo raw lads from a certain great manufacturing town […] were in the act of seeking for the speediest exit from the gardens; rather choosing to resign their share of the dinner, than to abide the farther consequences that might follow from the displeasure of his Highland Termagaunt.”
- A censorious, nagging, and quarrelsome woman; a scold, a shrew.
“They [authors] would not suffer the stout'st Dame, / To swear by Hercules his Name, / Make feeble Ladies, in their Works, / To fight like Termagants and Turks; […]”
“This Girl is ſo exceſſively ill-bred, and ſuch an arrant Termagant, that I cou'd as ſoon fall in love vvith a Tigreſs. She hath a handſom Face, 'tis true, but in her Temper ſhe is a very Fury.”