termagant

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See also: Termagant

English

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 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 (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.

Pronunciation

Noun

termagant (plural termagants)

  1. (archaic) A brawling, boisterous, and turbulent person or thing.
    • 1730, , A Vindication of His Excellency the Lord Ct, from the Charge of Favouring None but Tories, High-Churchmen and Jacobites. , London: ">…] for T. Warner , →OCLC, page 27:
      I do not find hovv his Ey 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,
    • 1823 December 23 (indicated as 1824), , “Perplexities”, in St Ronan’s Well.  In Three Volumes.">…], volume II, Edinburgh: ">…] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., →OCLC, page 196:
      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.
    • 1851, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter XV, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume III, London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC, page 564:
      No person who had a natural interest in the Princess could observe without uneasiness the strange infatuation which made her the slave of an imperious and reckless termagant .
    • 1861 November, W M Thackeray, “George the Third”, in The Four Georges: Sketches of Manners, Morals, Court, and Town Life, London: Smith, Elder and Co., , →OCLC, page 112:
      Yonder is Sarah Marlborough's palace, just as it stood when that termagant occupied it.
    • 1980, Bernard Mac Laverty, chapter 6, in Lamb (King Penguin), Harmondsworth, Middlesex : Penguin Books, published 1985, →OCLC, page 50:
      'Mrs Kane has been filling us in on some background information on Owen.' The woman nodded, drumming her nicotined fingers. 'And I have been assuring her that the boys who arrive here thimbleriggers and termagants are the least of our worries. But we do not send them out that way. Do we, Brother?'
  2. (specifically, derogatory) A censorious, nagging, and quarrelsome woman; a scold, a shrew.
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:shrew

Alternative forms

Derived terms

Translations

Adjective

termagant (comparative more termagant, superlative most termagant)

  1. (archaic) Having the temperament of a termagant (noun sense 1); bad-tempered, brawling, boisterous, turbulent.
  2. (specifically, derogatory) Of a woman, her behaviour, etc.: censorious, nagging, and quarrelsome; scolding, shrewish.
    • 1667 August 25 (first performance; Gregorian calendar), , Sr Martin Mar-all, or The Feign’d Innocence: A Comedy. , London: H Herringman, , published 1668, →OCLC, Act I, page 4:
      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.
    • 1677 (date written), John Dryden, The Kind Keeper; or, Mr. Limberham: A Comedy: , London: R Bentley, and M Magnes, , published 1680, →OCLC, Act I, scene i, page 6:
      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;
    • 1709 August 24 (Gregorian calendar), Isaac Bickerstaff , “Saturday, August 13, 1709”, in The Tatler, number 54; republished in , editor, The Tatler, , London stereotype edition, volume I, London: I. Walker and Co.;  , 1822, →OCLC, page 325:
      He answered Phillis a little abruptly at supper the same evening, upon which she threw his periwig into the fire. 'Well,' said he 'thou art a brave termagant jade: do you know, hussy, that fair wig cost forty guineas?'
      The spelling has been modernized.
    • 1712, Humphry Polesworth , “How the Guardians of the Deceas’d Mrs. Bull’s Three Daughters Came to John, and what Advice they Gave Him; wherein is Briefly Treated the Characters of the Three Daughters: Also John Bull’s Answer to the Three Guardians”, in John Bull in His Senses: Being the Second Part of Law is a Bottomless-Pit. , Edinburgh: James Watson, , →OCLC, page 21:
      The Eldeſt vvas a termagant, imperious, prodigal, levvd, profligate VVench, as ever breath'd; ſhe uſed to Rantipole about the Houſe, pinch the Children, kick the Servants, and torture the Cats and the Dogs;
    • 1761, , “The Journal. ”, in Memoirs of Miss Sidney Bidulph, , volume I, London: R and J Dodsley, , →OCLC, page 248:
      But the eldeſt daughter vvas alvvays her darling, vvho I underſtand is pretty much of her mother's ovvn caſt; and makes a very termagant vvife to a very turbulent huſband.
    • 1818 July 25, Jedediah Cleishbotham , chapter VI, in Tales of My Landlord, Second Series,  In Four Volumes.">…] (The Heart of Mid-Lothian), volume II, Edinburgh: ">…] for Archibald Constable and Company, →OCLC, page 144:
      "That's as muckle as till say, Bark, Bawtie, and be dune wi't!—I tell ye," raising her termagant voice, "I want my bairn! is na that braid Scots?"
    • 1860, W S Tyler, “Notes. Apologia Socratis.”, in Plato, Plato’s Apology and Crito; , New York, N.Y.; London: D Appleton and Company, , →OCLC, note D, page 149:
      is introduced in Xen Mem ii. 2, holding a conversation with his father touching his filial duty to his termagant mother .
    • 1993 May 6, Anthony Burgess, “Part Two”, in A Dead Man in Deptford, London: Hutchinson, →ISBN, page 161:
      These bishops with their termagant wives throw the book at us and say believe because I demand belief and by God I will burn or hang and quarter you if you do not.

Translations

References

  1. ^ Termagaunt, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 termagant, n. and adj.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required, Oxford: Oxford University Press, July 2023.
  3. ^ termagant, n.”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.

Further reading

Anagrams