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Mind your language

Dot Wordsworth

Wednesday, 13th February 2008

Dot Wordsworth makes merry

In a subsidiary line of inquiry, the dentist ponders the origin of merrythought meaning the wishbone of the Christmas bird. ‘Merry (strong) thought (?thwart): the strong cross-bone,’ he suggests. I fear there is no historic warrant for thwart. In 1906, the Oxford English Dictionary said: ‘The name, like the synonym wish-bone, alludes to the playful custom of two persons pulling the furcula of a fowl until it breaks; according to the popular notion, the one who gets the longer (in some districts, the shorter) piece will either be married sooner than the other, or will gain the fulfilment of any wish he may form at the moment.’

I like furcula. What may be of interest to the dentist is the draft revision of the item made in 2001 (available online). It says, ‘For the traditional explanation of the word see quotation, 1708.’ This quotation is from the British Apollo: ‘For what Reason is the Bone next the Breast of a Fowl, &c. called the Merry-thought...? The Original of that Name was doubtless from the Pleasant Fancies, that commonly arise upon the Breaking of that Bone.’

But the OED now also draws attention to a remark by John Aubrey in his Remaines of Gentilisme & Judaisme (1697): ‘’Tis called the merrythought, because when the fowle is opened, dissected, or carv’d, it resembles the pudenda of a woman.’ In support, I’d suggest examining the dialogue between Hamlet and Ophelia (act III, scene ii). Hamlet: Do you think I meant country matters? Ophelia: I think nothing, my lord. Hamlet: That’s a fair thought to lie between maids’ legs. Ophelia: What is, my lord? Hamlet: Nothing. Ophelia: You are merry, my lord.

The OED concludes: ‘The traditional theory may perhaps be a euphemistic folk etymology.’ I must send my husband to the dentist again soon.

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Herbert Thornton

February 14th, 2008 6:22pm

I wonder if (for most of us) that gives a whole new meaning to "Robin Hood and his Merry Men"?

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