The Word of the Day comes from SACRED HUNGER by Barry Unsworth
TERMAGANT
NOUN termagants (plural noun)
a harsh-tempered or overbearing woman.historical an imaginary deity of violent and turbulent character, often appearing in morality plays.
ORIGIN
Middle English (in termagant (sense 2)): via Old French from ItalianTrivagante, taken to be from Latintri-‘three’ + vagant-‘wandering’, and to refer to the moon ‘wandering’ between heaven, earth, and hell under the three names Selene, Artemis, and Persephone.
Termagant or Tervagant was the name given to a god which Christians believed Muslims worshipped. The word is also used in modern English to mean a violent, overbearing, turbulent, brawling, quarrelsome woman; a virago, shrew, vixen. In the past, the word could be applied to any person or thing personified, not just a woman.
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