a-myrgan

a-myrgan, wk.v: to cheer, delight. (ah-MUER-gahn / a-ˈmyr-gan)

Medieval manuscript image of ten men and women doing a group dance to music played on bagpipes and drum.
Roman de la Rose; France (Paris), 1320-1340; British Library, Royal MS 20 A XVII, f. 9r. [blogs.bl.uk]

2 thoughts on “a-myrgan

  1. I find the connection between today’s word a-mygan and Roman de la Rose; France (Paris), 1320-1340 so interesting!

    I am especially intrigued by the word Karole and tamous, as the character appear to be dancing and singing carols!

    Is this merriment a-mygan?

    Thanks for sharing this word and all the daily words!

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    • The manuscript is in French, so does not contain the Old English word amyrgan, but it does apply to what is happening in the scene. (Surely dancing and singing is a way to ‘cheer’ or ‘delight’ someone.) The word becomes amirien in Middle English, from which we get modern English ‘merry’. We usually say ‘make merry’ today, but ‘merry’ remains a transitive and intransitive verb (if less common than the adjective). In James Joyce’s Ulysses (1922) we have ‘Warm sunshine merrying over the sea’.

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