Monday words: Chichevache and Bicorne

[med_cat]

Chichevache [CHEESH-vahsh]

(n.)
 

- A medieval monster, said to have fed exclusively upon the flesh of patient wives, and was therefore very lean.
 

From Middle French “chicheface” from Old French “chincheface” from “chiche” (lean; skinny; miserly; parsimonious) + “face” (face) which was changed to “vache” (cow) when brought into English use by Chaucer.
 

Used in a sentence:

“Oh don’t you worry your pretty little head, darling; you are certainly safe from the gaping maw of the chichevache!”

Bicorne or Bycorne [BAHY-kohrn]

(n.)
 

- A medieval two-horned monster, said to have fed exclusively upon the flesh of patient husbands, and has therefore grown very large (yeah, right).
 

From Middle French “bicorne” (two-horned) from classical Latin “bicornis” (two-horned anvil)
 

Used in a sentence:

“Oh yeah? Well, don’t bother trying to hide if you see a bicorne coming your way, for I assure you that you are likewise quite safe!”

(from The Grandiloquent Word of the Day)
 

Comments

[full_metal_ox]

Given the association of horns with cuckoldry, I suspect there’s a specific implicit indignity that the Bicorne’s prey was assumed to have endured.

(And the messages in stories of this sort underscore who’s telling and who’s preserving the stories, of course. Note that, for some mysterious reason, there’s a glaring deficiency of folkloric boogeymen who punish adult misbehavior toward children; Saki’s Sredni Vashtar fills a necessary niche!

Comes to that, the Aesop behind the Chichevache could be interpreted as, “Don’t put up with shit from your husband, or a horrible monster will eat you!”)

[med_cat]

Good points :)

[prettygoodword]

I'm just going to sit here grinning at this pairing.

[med_cat]

:))