Termagant

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]

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈtɜːməɡ(ə)nt/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈtɜɹməɡənt/
• Hyphenation: ter‧mag‧ant

Termagant

1. (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.

   Coordinate terms: Apollin, Mahound

   • 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 Hatfield, for I Iaggard and M Lownes, →OCLC, stanza 84, page 18:

     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.

   • 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."

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