I was on the hunt for words with a Halloween connection (besides those I've covered in the past, including heebie-jeebies, bugaboo, in a dither, and ghouls and vampires) when I bumped into ragamuffin, a word with an interesting history!
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... And, as you probably know, I'm all about words (and phrases!) with interesting histories.
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At Merriam-Webster, I learned that ragamuffin first appeared in relation to Thanksgiving before drifting back a month in the calendar to Halloween:
Ragamuffin has a long-established history of referring to a ragged person, but in the early 19th century the word became associated with the children who would dress up for Thanksgiving as ragamuffins and parade asking for handouts, parodying begging and beggars. Though these "ragamuffin parades" died out, children continue to dress up, but now on Halloween.
M-W adds that the word has several definitions, besides the common one listed above, including "a type of music (also known as raggamuffin or ragga), and a demon in the 14th-century poem Piers Plowman." The origin of the word, according to M-W, is "uncertain," but goes waaaay back.
In Middle English the word functioned both as a surname and generically to denote a ragged and sometimes stupid person.... The muffin part of the word may have its origin in either of two Anglo-Norman words for a devil or scoundrel, but that too is uncertain. As English lexicographer Samuel Johnson put it, "From rag and I know not what else."Well, if Samuel Johnson "knows not," then I suppose Slang-o-rama can rest easy. But not quite yet, because the Online Etymological Dictionary has the following:
Ragamuffin. mid-14c., "demon;" late 14c., "a ragged lout," also in surnames (Isabella Ragamuffyn, 1344), from Middle English raggi "ragged" ("rag-y"?) + "fanciful ending" [OED], or else perhaps second the element is Middle Dutch muffe "mitten."
OED also added a little fascinating info on the related word ragged:
Ragged was used of the devil from c. 1300 in reference to his "shaggy" appearance. Raggeman (late 13c. as a surname, presumably "one who goes about in tattered clothes") was used by Langland as the name of a demon (late 14c.), and compare Old French Ragamoffyn, name of a demon in a mystery play. Sense of "dirty, disreputable boy" is from 1580s. Also compare ragabash "idle, worthless fellow" (c. 1600).
...Sometimes we discover only the root of the name we investigate. Such is rag(g)-, known in Swedish, Lithuanian, English (the first element of ragamuffin; its second element, -muff-in, also means “devil,” from the French word for “ugly”), and possibly Italian, if ragazzo “boy” formerly meant “imp” (this ragg– is not related to rag “a piece of cloth”)
The use of ragamuffin to describe "a child in masquerade costume" started in the late 19th century, in reference to the children who dressed up on Thanksgiving Day for what was called "Thanksgiving masking." This strange custom began as a parody of begging. Children dressed in costumes, often as ragamuffins, and begged for handouts for their Thanksgiving meals; they often received fruit, pennies, and candy. The practice became so widespread that Thanksgiving was nicknamed "Ragamuffin Day," and cities and towns began holding parades in which children could don their costumes and march. By 1930, the parades and tradition began to wane.... By the mid-1900s, the Thanksgiving ragamuffin became a thing of the past. The practice of dressing up and going out to beg, however, lived on in another holiday—Halloween.
So, when those little ragamuffins come knocking on your door on October 31, be kind. Treats only—no tricks or turkeys!
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| Back in the day. (Ragamuffin parade, circa 1910) Library of Congress https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2014694901/) |
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