Flibbertigibbet is an old English word referring to a flighty or whimsical person, usually a young female. In modern use it is used as a slang term, especially in Yorkshire, for a gossipy or overly talkative person. Yorkshire is a historic county of Northern England and the largest in Great Britain. Gossip is idle talk or Rumor, especially about the personal or private affairs of others
It may also refer to two separate cultural figures:
In Anglo-Saxon mythology Flibbertigibbet is apprentice to Wayland Smith[1], who becomes exasperated with his behaviour and throws him down a hill, where he transforms into a stone. For their language see Anglo-Saxon language. Anglo-Saxon is the term usually used to describe the invading Tribes in the south Anglo-Saxon paganism refers to the Migration Period religion practiced by the English in 5th to 7th century England. Wayland (also spelled Weyland, Wieland, Weland, Welent and Watlende) is a smith of Germanic legend
In Shakespeare's King Lear (IV, i (1605)), he is one of the five fiends Edgar (in the posture of a beggar, 'poor Tom') claimed was possessing him. William Shakespeare ( baptised King Lear is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1603 and 1606 and is considered one of his greatest works Shakespeare got the name from Samuel Harsnett's Declaration of Egregious Popish Impostures (1603), where one reads of 40 fiends, which Jesuits cast out and among which was Fliberdigibbet, a name that had been previously used by Latimer and others for a mischievous gossip. Samuel Harsnett (June 1561 - May 1631 was an English Writer on Religion and Archbishop of York from 1629 The Society of Jesus ( Latin: Societas Iesu, SJ and SI or SJ, SI) is a Catholic religious order Elsewhere the name is apparently a synonym for Puck. Puck is a mythological Fairy or mischievous Nature Spirit. Puck is also a generalised personification of land spirits Its origin is in a meaningless representation of chattering. [2]
In The Sound of Music, in the song, "How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?", a nun named Catherine calls Maria a flibbertigibbet. The Sound of Music is a musical with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, and a book by Howard Lindsay How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria? was a multi-award-winning British talent show shown on Saturday evenings on BBC One, first broadcast on 29 July [3]
When announcing her support for Hillary Clinton during the Democratic Party (United States) presidential primaries, 2008 , the word was used by Elizabeth Taylor to describe what Hillary Clinton was "not". Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton (born October 26 1947 is the junior United States Senator from PLEASE DO NOT MAKE STRUCTURAL CHANGES TO THIS PAGE WITHOUT FIRST DISCUSSING THEM ON THIS ARTICLE'S DISCUSSION PAGE Dame Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor, DBE (born 27 February 1932) is a two-time Academy Award -winning English-American actress Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton (born October 26 1947 is the junior United States Senator from [4]
References
External links
- Flibbertigibbet's heel mark
- Kenilworth passage mentioning Flibbertigibbet
- Word of the day at dictionary.reference.com
Dapyx Software network: MP3 Explorer | Ebook Manager | Zenithic