Misplaced Pages

#4995

61-539: The word is also used in modern English to mean a violent, overbearing, turbulent, brawling, quarrelsome woman; a virago , shrew, or vixen. In the past, the word could be applied to any person or thing personified, not just a woman. European literature from the Middle Ages often refers to Muslims as pagans and depicts them worshipping Muhammad along with various idols and sometimes other deities, such as Apollyon , Lucifer and Termagant. In some writings, such as

122-568: A virile heroism; for example, the British Royal Navy christened at least four warships Virago . The Vulgate Bible, translated by Jerome and others in the 4th century C.E., was an early Latin translation of the Hebrew Bible Old Testament . In Genesis 2:23, Jerome uses the words Vir for man and Virago for "woman" attempting to reproduce a pun on "male" and "female" ( ish and ishah ) that existed in

183-657: A vulgar Latin present participle created by Old French poets for exotic effect. He proposes as its etymon terrificans ("terrifying"), appropriate for a god. Alternately, Aleksander Gieysztor derives the name from the Slavic deity Triglav , with the name having spread west into French-speaking lands. James A. Bellamy proposes that the names Tervagan and Apollin in the Song of Roland derive from Ibn ʿAffān and Abū Bakr , two of Muhammad's companions, in-laws and successors. Whatever its origins, "Termagant" became established in

244-443: A channel, until they reached the village of Akkrum , where they had an argument and each went his own way, thus splitting the channel into two separate waterways. Others threw up hills, or became hills themselves when they died on the spot. In several legends, giants were evil beings that threatened, robbed and killed travellers or locals; such as Ellert and Brammert , in the province of Drenthe . Medieval chivalry romances such as

305-667: A conflict with the Olympian gods called the Gigantomachy (Γιγαντομαχία) when Gaia had them attack Mount Olympus . This battle was eventually settled when the hero Heracles decided to help the Olympians. The Greeks believed some of them, like Enceladus , to lie buried from that time under the earth and that their tormented quivers resulted in earthquakes and volcanic eruptions . Herodotus in Book 1, Chapter 68, describes how

366-405: A danger of making the giants trip and die, so they offered sacrifices to that plant. There are tales of giants in the northern Chilean port town of Caldera telling of giants who play with ships moving them from one port to another. Tales of the same area also tells of giants who are able to crush humans with their feet and when laying down to sleep being so long as to reach from the mountains to

427-560: A local myth has a local hill resembling a giant named as The Sleeping Giant . Folklore says the giant will awaken only if a specific musical instrument is played near the hill. Giants are also prominent in Welsh folklore . Many giants in English folklore were noted for their stupidity. A giant who had quarrelled with the Mayor of Shrewsbury went to bury the city with dirt; however, he met

488-429: A man and a woman, were traversing the fjord near Drangey Island with their cow when they were surprised by the bright rays of daybreak. As a result of exposure to daylight, all three were turned into stone. Drangey represents the cow and Kerling (supposedly the female giant, the name means "old hag") is to the south of it. Karl (the male giant) was to the north of the island, but he disappeared long ago. A bergrisi –

549-560: A man in ancient Rome (and Greece), including valor and heroism, but also morality and physical strength. Women and non-elite or unheroic men (slaves, servants, craftsmen, merchants) were considered a lesser category, and believed to be less excellent in Roman morality . A woman, however, if exceptional enough could earn the title virago . In doing so, she surpassed the expectations for what was believed possible for her gender , and embodied masculine-like aggression and/or excellence. Virago, then,

610-449: A man's character and desire intercourse with women like men. Standard modern dictionaries define virago as either, in order of definition, (1) a "loud overbearing woman"; a "shrew". or (2) a woman of "great stature, strength, and courage" Thus virago continues to be associated with both the naming of a woman who has either (1) a domineering, abrasive and spiteful manner, or (2) has risen above cultural and gender stereotypes to embody

671-640: A passage of his Genealogies of the Pagan Gods to purported archeological discoveries in Sicily that he thought might be evidence of the historicity of The Odyssey 's Polyphemus . Rabelais created a wholly "fabricated giantology" for his 16th-century Gargantua and Pantagruel . Massive bones found in 1613 in France were initially assigned to Teutobochus but the examinations of them by various physicians and their publication of diverging conclusions about

SECTION 10

#1732801542005

732-520: A race of giant men created in one of the previous solar eras . They are credited with the construction of Teotihuacan . Giants are rough but generally righteous characters of formidable strength living in the hills of the Basque Country . Giants stand for the Basque people reluctant to convert to Christianity who decide to stick to the old lifestyle and customs in the forest. Sometimes they hold

793-636: A shoemaker, carrying shoes to repair, and the shoemaker convinced the giant that he had worn out all the shoes coming from Shrewsbury , and so it was too far to travel. Other English stories told of how giants threw stones at each other, which was used to explain many great stones on the landscape. Giants figure in folklore and fairy tales, such as Jack the Giant Killer , The Giant Who Had No Heart in His Body , Nix Nought Nothing , Robin Hood and

854-444: A statue of Jupiter, typically on horseback, defeating or trampling down a giant, often depicted as a snake. They are restricted to the area of south-western Germany, western Switzerland, French Jura, and Alsace. In folklore from all over Europe, giants were believed to have built the remains of previous civilizations. The Danish historian Saxo Grammaticus thought giants had a hand in the creation of megalithic monuments. Similarly,

915-509: A woman who is masculine to the exclusion of traditional feminine virtues. Modern use of the word virago generally takes the disparaging sense. Thus virago joined pejoratives such as termagant , mannish , amazonian and shrew to describe women who acted aggressively or like men. The word virago has almost always had an association with cultural gender transgression . There are recorded instances of viragos (such as Joan of Arc ) fighting battles, wearing men's clothing, or receiving

976-500: Is described as a "termagant wife". " Virago ", " fishwife " and " shrew " are near-synonyms for "termagant" in this sense. In season 2 of Westworld , Major Craddock calls Dolores a termagant. The term is still sometimes used of men. In 2008, the Australian politician Kim Beazley labelled opponent Tony Abbott a termagant. Virago A virago is a woman who demonstrates abundant masculine virtues. The word comes from

1037-454: Is described as a Termagant, and metaphorically referred to as Antonina (wife of Belisarius) to Samoa's Belisarius . Explaining why she did not need the armaments on the ship, Melville writes "Her voice was a park of artillery; her talons a charge of bayonets." (Chapter 23.) Ludovico Ariosto used the form Trivigante . It has been claimed that Termagant became a stock character in medieval mystery plays but another source denies this. In

1098-604: Is first attested in 1297 from Robert of Gloucester 's chronicle. It is derived from the Gigantes ( ‹See Tfd› Greek : Γίγαντες ) of Greek mythology . Fairy tales such as Jack the Giant Killer have formed the modern perception of giants as dimwitted and violent ogres , sometimes said to eat humans, while other giants tend to eat livestock. In more recent portrayals, like those of Jonathan Swift and Roald Dahl , some giants are both intelligent and friendly. Giants appear many times in folklore and myths. Representing

1159-426: Is out for revenge on one of the other characters, and is described as a "furious, malicious, and revengeful woman; perpetually plaguing him, and crossing him in all his designs; pursuing him continually with her malice, even to the attempting of his life." Arthur Murphy 's play The Upholsterer (1758) also contains a female character called "Termagant". In Washington Irving 's " Rip Van Winkle " (1819), Dame Van Winkle

1220-409: Is the dea trivia , the threefold moon goddess Luna – Diana – Persephone (or Selene – Artemis – Hecate ), attested since classical antiquity. Thus, ter vagan means 'three wandering [i.e., like the moon]'. Apollyon (Apollin) is simply Apollo , Diana's brother. In the 19th century, Walter William Skeat speculated that the name was originally "Trivagante", meaning "thrice wandering", a reference to

1281-496: The Hindu reckoning of time. According to Jainism , there was a time when giants walked upon this earth. Jain cosmology divides the worldly cycle of time into two parts or half-cycles, avasarpani (age of descending purity) and ascending ( utsarpani ). According to Jain texts , the height of Rishabhanatha , first tirthankara of the present half-cycle of time ( avasarpani ) was 500 dhanusa (longbow). In avasarpani , as

SECTION 20

#1732801542005

1342-573: The Old English poem The Seafarer speaks of the high stone walls that were the work of giants. Natural geologic features such as the massive basalt columns of the Giant's Causeway on the coast of Northern Ireland were attributed to construction by giants. In the Netherlands, giants are often associated with creating or forming the landscape. For instance, two giants are said to have dug

1403-668: The Septuagint , the 1st-century Jewish historian Flavius Josephus and the 2nd–1st-centuries BCE Dead Sea Scrolls give Goliath's height as four cubits and one span (possibly 216–258 centimetres (7 ft 1 in – 8 ft 6 in)). For comparison, the Anakites are described as making the Israelites seem like grasshoppers. See also Gibborim . Josephus also described the Amorites as giants in his Antiquities of

1464-716: The Sierra Nevadas and the Rocky Mountains . After giving birth to a disfigured child, the giants treated the child so poorly that the Great Spirit responded by making the land hot and desolate and allowing enemies to conquer the giants. Only two giants survived: Paiute and his wife, both of whose skin became brown from eternally living in the hot desert. Several Jupiter-Giant-Columns have been found in Germania Superior . These were crowned with

1525-460: The Song of Roland , these were combined to create an "unholy Trinity " of sorts composed of Apollyon, Muhammad and Termagant. The original form of the name is Tervagan . There are many hypotheses explaining the origin of the name, but it does not seem to derive from any actual aspect of Muslim belief or practice, however wildly distorted. Gustav Beckmann lists 23 different theories. He defend that first proposed by Ugo Foscolo in 1819 that Tervagan

1586-613: The Spartans uncovered in Tegea the body of Orestes , which was seven cubits long ⁠ ⁠—  approximately 3.73   m, or about 12   feet 3   inches. In his book The Comparison of Romulus with Theseus , Plutarch describes how the Athenians uncovered the body of Theseus , which was "of more than ordinary size." The kneecaps of Ajax were exactly the size of a discus for the boy's pentathlon , wrote Pausanias . A boy's discus

1647-583: The Titanomachy . The Hecatoncheires are giants that have 100 arms and 50 heads who were also the children of Gaia and Uranus. Other known giant races in Greek mythology include the six-armed Gegeines , the northern Hyperboreans , and the cannibalistic Laestrygonians . There are accounts stating humans grew to the size of giants during the Satya Yuga , the first of the four cyclical ages (yugas) in

1708-422: The theatre , Termagant was usually depicted as a turbanned creature who wore a long, Eastern style gown . As a stage- villain , he would rant at and threaten the lesser villains who were his servants and worshipers. As a result of the theatrical tradition, by Shakespeare's day the term had come to refer to a bullying person. Henry IV, part 1 contains a reference to "that hot termagant Scot". In Hamlet ,

1769-407: The tonsure . Historically, the concept of a virago reaches back into antiquity where Hellenistic philosophy asserted that elite and exceptionally heroic men had virtus ( Greek : ἀνδρεία , romanized :  andreia ). Virtus (once again linked to vir , the brave man abiding by society's highest values and ethics as opposed to homo , human being) defined the traits of excellence for

1830-881: The American people with enthusiasm...Paul and his blue ox Babe are supposed to have altered the appearance of the American continent; the animal's hoof prints became the lake beds of the Northwest and from its drinking trough spilled the Mississippi River ." Fossilized remains of ancient mammals and reptiles common to the Sivalik Hills of India may have influenced aspects of the Mahābhārata that tell of battles in which "hundreds of mighty, and sometimes gigantic, heroes, horses, and war elephants are said to have died." Claudine Cohen , in her 2002 book The Fate of

1891-568: The Hebrew Bible, but left untranslated in others. According to Genesis 7:23 , the Nephilim were destroyed in the Flood, but Nephilim are reported after the Flood, including: The Book of Numbers includes the discouraging report by the spies sent by Moses into Canaan : "We can't attack those people; they are stronger than we are. (...) All the people we saw there are of great size. We saw

Termagant - Misplaced Pages Continue

1952-519: The Hebrew text. The Vulgate reads: Dixitque Adam hoc nunc os ex ossibus meis et caro de carne mea haec vocabitur virago quoniam de viro sumpta est. "And Adam said: This now is bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man." The Middle English poem Cursor Mundi retains the Latin name for the woman in its otherwise Middle English account of

2013-453: The Jews , circa 93   CE, indicating that some sort of fossils may have been on display at that time: "For which reason they removed their camp to Hebron; and when they had taken it, they slew all the inhabitants. There were till then left the race of giants, who had bodies so large, and countenances so entirely different from other men, that they were surprising to the sight, and terrible to

2074-422: The Latin word virāgō ( genitive virāginis) meaning "vigorous maiden" from vir meaning "man" or "man-like" (cf. virile and virtue ) to which the suffix -āgō is added, a suffix that creates a new noun of the third declension with feminine grammatical gender . Historically, this was often positive and reflected heroism and exemplary qualities of masculinity. However, it could also be pejorative, indicating

2135-525: The Mammoth , argued that the history of human interaction with fossil bones of prehistoric megafauna was heavily influenced by giant lore. Per Cohen, the proto-scientific study of giants appears in several phases of human history: Herotodus reported that the remains of Orestes were found in Tegea ; Pliny described a giant's skeleton found in Crete after an earthquake, and seemed to refer to evolution as

2196-463: The Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them." The Book of Joshua , describing the actual conquest of Canaan in a later generation, makes reference to such people living there in (Joshua 14:12–15 and Joshua 15:13–14). The Bible also tells of Gog and Magog , who later entered European folklore, and of

2257-687: The Spanish Amadís de Gaula feature giants as antagonists, or, rarely, as allies. This is parodied famously in Cervantes' Don Quixote , when the title character attacks a windmill, believing it to be a giant. This is the source of the phrase tilting at windmills . Tales of combat with giants were a common feature in the folklore of the British Isles . Celtic giants also figure in Breton and Arthurian romances . In Kinloch Rannoch ,

2318-462: The West as the supposed name of the principal idol supposedly worshipped by Saracens, being regularly mentioned in chivalric romances and chansons de geste . The spelling of the name varies considerably ( Tervigant, Tervagant, Tarvigant , etc.). In Occitan literature , the troubadour Austorc d'Aorlhac refers to Bafomet and Termagant ( Tervagan ) side by side in one sirventes , referring also to

2379-481: The bones kicked off a "pamphlet war" between anatomists and surgeons of the day. The discovery of the so-called Claverack Giant in colonial New York triggered giantological investigations by two important early American intellectuals, Cotton Mather and Edward Taylor . Genesis tells of the Nephilim before and after Noah's Flood . The word Nephilim is loosely translated as giants in some translations of

2440-446: The chief god, is the great-grandson of the jötunn Ymir . Norse mythology also holds that the entire world of men was created from the flesh of Ymir, a giant of cosmic proportions whose name is considered by some scholars to share a root with Yama of Indo-Iranian mythology. Trolls are beings that are sometimes very large. The name troll is applied to jötnar . An old Icelandic legend says that two night-prowling giants,

2501-528: The creation: Quen sco was broght be-for adam, Virago he gaf her to nam; þar for hight sco virago , ffor maked of the man was sco. (lines 631–34) "When she was brought before Adam, Virago was the name he gave to her; Therefore she is called Virago, For she was made out of the man." Giant In folklore , giants (from Ancient Greek : gigas , cognate giga- ) are beings of humanoid appearance, but are at times prodigious in size and strength or bear an otherwise notable appearance. The word giant

Termagant - Misplaced Pages Continue

2562-499: The cycle moves ahead, height of all humans and animals decreases. The following table depicts the six aras of avasarpini – In Norse mythology , the jötnar (cognate with Old English : eotenas and English: ettin ) are often opposed to the gods. While often translated as "giants", most are described as being roughly human-sized. Some are portrayed as huge, such as some frost giants ( hrímþursar ), fire giants ( eldjötnar ), and mountain giants ( bergrisar ). The jötnar are

2623-608: The end of the Third Crusade (c.1200), Le jeu de saint Nicolas . In the Sowdone of Babylone , the sultan makes a vow to Termagaunte(lines 135–40): In Geoffrey Chaucer 's The Canterbury Tales , " Sir Thopas " (supposed to be told by Chaucer himself on the pilgrimage) is a parody of these chivalric romances. In the tale, a knight giant named "Sir Oliphaunt " is made to swear an oath by Termagant. In Herman Melville 's Mardi (Chapters 25, 26, 28), Samoa's wife Annatoo

2684-594: The famous battle between David and the Philistine Goliath . While Goliath is often portrayed as a giant in retellings of the Biblical narrative, he appears to be significantly smaller than other giants, biblical or otherwise. The Masoretic Text version of the Book of Samuel gives his height as six cubits and one span (possibly 313–372 centimetres (10 ft 3 in – 12 ft 2 in)), while

2745-705: The forests"), Sanson (variation of the biblical Samson ), Errolan (based on the Frankish army general Roland who fell dead at the Battle of Roncevaux Pass ) or even Tartalo (a one-eyed giant akin to the Greek Cyclops Polyphemus ). In Bulgarian mythology, giants called ispolini inhabited the Earth before modern humans. They lived in the mountains, fed on raw meat and often fought against dragons . Ispolini were afraid of blackberries which posed

2806-472: The giants he was the bravest and most famous, opponent of all who raised their hand to become absolute ruler over the giants and heroes." Mount Nemrut is known to have received its name from an Armenian tradition in which Nimrod was killed by an arrow shot by Hayk during a massive battle between two rival armies of giants to the south-east of Lake Van . Aztec mythology features the Quinametzin ,

2867-583: The hearing. The bones of these men are still shown to this very day, unlike to any credible relations of other men." The Book of Enoch describes giants as the offspring of Watchers and women in 7:2. Hayk was known as the founder of the Armenian state. Hayk was part of a race of giants who helped construct the Tower of Babel . Ancient historian Movses Khorenatsi wrote, "Hayk was handsome and personable, with curly hair, sparkling eyes and strong arms. Among

2928-593: The hero says of ham actors that "I would have such a fellow whipped for o'er-doing Termagant, it out-Herods Herod". Herod , like Termagant, was also a character from medieval drama who was famous for ranting. Beaumont and Fletcher 's play, A King and No King , contains the line "This would make a saint swear like a soldier, and a soldier like Termagant." Mainly because of Termagant's depiction in long gowns, and given that female roles were routinely played by male actors in Shakespearean times, English audiences got

2989-450: The human body enlarged to the point of being monstrous, giants evoke terror and remind humans of their body's frailty and mortality. They are often portrayed as monsters and antagonists, but there are exceptions. Some giants intermingle with humans in a friendly way and can even be part of human families with their offspring being portrayed as regular humans where they are often referred to as half-giants . Folklorists and historians examine

3050-570: The latter's "companions". In the 15th-century Middle English romance Syr Guy of Warwick , a Sultan swears an oath by Termagant. In The Chanson de Roland , the Saracens , having lost the battle of Roncesvalles , desecrate their "pagan idols" (lines 2589–90) including Tervagan Tervagant is also a statue worshipped by the "king of Africa" in the Jean Bodel play in Old French after

3111-407: The mistaken notion that the character was female, or at least that he resembled a mannish woman. As a result, the name "termagant" came increasingly to be applied to a woman with a quarrelsome, scolding quality, a sense that it retains today. This was a well-established usage by the late 17th century. Thomas Shadwell 's play The Squire of Alsatia (1688) contains a character called Mrs Termagant who

SECTION 50

#1732801542005

3172-575: The moon, because of the Islamic use of crescent moon imagery. Joseph T. Shipley argues that it evolved from the Italian Trivigante and became confused with termigisto , meaning "boaster," derived from Hermes Trismegistus . Leo Spitzer argues that Tervagant, like several other names ending in -ant from the Matter of France (e.g. Baligant and Morgant ), is an " occitanization " of

3233-561: The origin of most of various monsters in Norse mythology (e.g. the Fenrisulfr ) and in the eventual battle of Ragnarök , the giants will storm Asgard and fight the gods until the world is destroyed. Even so, the gods themselves were related to the jötnar by many marriages and descent; there are also jötnar such as Ægir who have good relationships with the gods and bear little difference in status to them. Odin , often regarded as

3294-424: The princess of Tololo Pampa. If a person manages to watch the giant while he works folklore says the person will be blessed with good luck for the rest of their life. In Greek mythology , the Gigantes (γίγαντες) were (according to the poet Hesiod ) the children of Uranus (Ουρανός) and Gaia (Γαία) (spirits of the sky and the earth) where some depictions had them with snake-like legs. They were involved in

3355-463: The process by which giants become human-size over time; and Saint Augustine mentions what is believed to have been the fossilized molar of an ancient Elephantidae in his City of God , in a passage reflecting on the nature and meaning of the Noahacian deluge. The academic consideration of giants continued through the Middle Ages, Renaissance, and even the early modern period. Boccaccio devoted

3416-407: The role giants are assigned in regional geomythologies . For example, Fionn mac Cumhaill is said to have built the Giant's Causeway on the island of Ireland . Per a 1965 examination in an American studies journal, "It is generally admitted today that Paul Bunyan was a synthetic figure conceived by advertising men rather than the spontaneous product of the folk mind, yet he has been adopted by

3477-423: The sea. In some stories the giants are black humanoids or black bulls. In southern Chile there are stories of giants said to belong to certain volcanoes such as Calbuco and Osorno . The mythical city of Tololo Pampa in northern Chile is said to be guarded by a giant known by various names including; Pata Larga , Gigante Minero and Minero Gigante . The giant enters to the mountains to obtain riches to

3538-725: The secret of ancient techniques and wisdom unknown to the Christians, like in the legend of San Martin Txiki , while their most outstanding feature is their strength. It follows that in many legends all over the Basque territory the giants are held accountable for the creation of many stone formations, hills and ages-old megalithic structures ( dolmens , etc.), with similar explanations provided in different spots. However, giants show different variants and forms, they are most frequently referred to as jentilak and mairuak , while as individuals they can be represented as Basajaun ("the lord of

3599-592: The traditional protector of southwestern Iceland – appears as a supporter on the coat of arms of Iceland . According to Northern Paiute oral history, the Si-Te-Cah or Sai'i are a legendary tribe of red-haired cannibalistic giants, the remains of which were allegedly found in 1911 by guano miners in Nevada's Lovelock Cave . Furthermore, the Paiute creation story tells of "beautiful giants" who once lived between

3660-412: Was a title of respect and admiration. In Christianity , a nun or holy woman who had become equal in divinity to male monks through practiced celibacy , exemplary religious practice and devotion, and intact virginity , was considered to have surpassed the limitations of her femaleness and was called virago . Latin writer Firmicus Maternus in the 4th century CE describes virago as women who take on

3721-585: Was about 12 cm (4.7 in) in diameter, while a normal adult patella is around 5 cm (2.0 in), suggesting Ajax may have been nearly 14   feet (over 4   m) tall. The Cyclopes are also compared to giants due to their huge size (e.g.   Polyphemus , son of Poseidon and Thoosa and nemesis of Odysseus in Homer 's The Odyssey ). The Elder Cyclopes were the children of Gaia and Uranus, and later made Zeus ' "master thunderbolt", Poseidon's trident, and Hades ' "helm of darkness", during

SECTION 60

#1732801542005
#4995