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Post by amanda on Jun 21, 2008 16:55:47 GMT
I have been asked why a fishmonger and an ironmonger are so called, and I've found that monger means "seller of specific items" and probably stems from the Latin for "mango trader". Inevitably the question now is why don't we have a breadmonger or a fruitmonger; what is the connection between iron and fish that they should be mongers, or is it completely random? I can only think it is because other traders have their own names - fruiterer, baker, butcher, etc. Can anyone shed any light?  |
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Post by Paul Doherty on Jun 21, 2008 17:05:10 GMT
Costermonger, of course. And rumour-monger!
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Post by Pete on Jun 21, 2008 19:36:29 GMT
Yes, it's interesting that -monger has lost the selling flavour and become a suffix that means spreader or purveyor, as in rumourmonger, scaremonger, and the like.
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Post by Tone on Jun 21, 2008 20:56:10 GMT
I wondered recently: similarly with smith.
Blacksmith, whitesmith, tinsmith, goldsmith, silversmith, even word-smith -- so why ain't a plumber a leadsmith?
Tone
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Post by Pete on Jun 21, 2008 22:27:19 GMT
And then there's wright: shipwright, wheelwright, cartwright. Why isn't everyone who makes (or mends) something a wright of some sort?
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Post by Geoff on Jun 22, 2008 5:23:06 GMT
[This section moved by Administrator.] This is not a comment aimed specifically at you, amanda. I'm probably guilty myself. |
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Post by amanda on Jun 22, 2008 8:54:56 GMT
[This section moved by administrator.] Anyhow, speaking of tangents: interesting how smiths and wrights were used as family/surnames but mongers wasn't. Or was it? |
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Post by Barry on Jun 23, 2008 9:33:53 GMT
Watch out! Some management guru is bound to catch on to this and invent a new bullshit-bingo word: stylewright; efficiencymonger; lifesmith. Aggghhh!
I love Francis Wheen's quotation in How mumbo jumbo conquered the world - about how 'guru' is usually a word used by people too stupid to spell 'charlatan'.
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Post by Pete on Jun 23, 2008 14:24:30 GMT
Watch out! Some management guru is bound to catch on to this and invent a new bullshit-bingo word: stylewright; efficiencymonger; lifesmith. Aggghhh! I love Francis Wheen's quotation in How mumbo jumbo conquered the world - about how 'guru' is usually a word used by people too stupid to spell 'charlatan'. Interesting. Where I work I am considered a 'guru'and the intended meaning is expert, not charlatan. |
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Post by Pete on Jun 23, 2008 14:25:24 GMT
Of course, on the basis of the Dilbert Principle, who would know?  |
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Post by Vadim on Jun 23, 2008 15:10:53 GMT
Of course, on the basis of the Dilbert Principle, who would know? Perhaps, Mr Dilbert? My colleagues also refer to me with a four-letter word. I doubt very much it's "guru" though  . |
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Post by Vadim on Jun 23, 2008 15:12:45 GMT
Anyway, I always thought a "monger" was a (mis)pronunciation of another word talked about on this forum not so long ago! I think it was used in Big Brother 3 (oh the shame).
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Post by goofy on Jun 23, 2008 15:18:03 GMT
I have been asked why a fishmonger and an ironmonger are so called, and I've found that monger means "seller of specific items" and probably stems from the Latin for "mango trader". I think it's more likely from Latin mangō "dealer in slaves". |
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Post by Twoddle on Jun 23, 2008 17:30:55 GMT
From the Online Etymlogy Dictionary:-
"Monger: O.E. mangere, from P.Gmc. mangojan (cf. O.S. mangon, O.N. manga), from L. mango (gen. mangonis) "dealer, trader," from a noun derivative of Gk. manganon "contrivance, means of enchantment," from PIE base *mang- "to embellish, dress, trim." Used in comb. form in Eng. since at least 12c.; since 16c. chiefly with overtones of petty and disreputable. The modern verb is first recorded 1928, from the noun (but there was a verb form in O.E.)."
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Post by Moby_Dick on Jun 23, 2008 21:03:24 GMT
I have always understood that smiths work with metal that wrights work with wood.
If a cartwright makes carts, and a wheelwright makes wheels, it stands to reason that someone who makes arks is an arkwright. That means Noah must have been an Arkwright. I wonder if he managed a small shop in his later years.
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