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Termagant
In the Middle Ages, Termagant or Tervagant was the name of a god that some European Christians believed Muslims worshipped. It originates in the eleventh-century Song of Roland.
The word is also used in modern English to mean a violent, overbearing, turbulent, brawling, quarrelsome woman; a virago, shrew, or vixen.
European literature from the Middle Ages often refers to Muslims as pagans and depicts them worshipping Muhammad along with various idols and sometimes other deities, such as Apollyon, Lucifer and Termagant. In some writings, such as the Song of Roland, these were combined to create an "unholy Trinity" of sorts composed of Apollyon, Muhammad and Termagant.
The original form of the name is Tervagan. There are many hypotheses explaining the origin of the name, but it does not seem to derive from any actual aspect of Muslim belief or practice, however wildly distorted. Gustav Beckmann lists 23 different theories. He defends that first proposed by Ugo Foscolo in 1819 that Tervagan is the dea trivia, the threefold moon goddess Luna–Diana–Persephone (or Selene–Artemis–Hecate), attested since classical antiquity. Thus, ter vagan means 'three wandering [i.e., like the moon]'. Apollyon (Apollin) is simply Apollo, Diana's brother.
Walter William Skeat, accepting the meaning "thrice wandering" as a reference to the moon, tied the name "Trivagante" to the Islamic use of crescent moon imagery. Joseph T. Shipley argues that the Italian Trivigante became confused with termigisto, meaning "boaster," derived from Hermes Trismegistus, leading to Termagant. Leo Spitzer argues that Tervagant, like several other names ending in -ant from the Matter of France (e.g. Baligant and Morgant), is an "occitanization" of a vulgar Latin present participle created by Old French poets for exotic effect. He proposes as its etymon terrificans ("terrifying"), appropriate for a god. Alternately, Aleksander Gieysztor derives the name from the Slavic deity Triglav, with the name having spread west into French-speaking lands.
James A. Bellamy proposes that the names Tervagan and Apollin in the Song of Roland derive from Ibn ʿAffān and Abū Bakr, two of Muhammad's companions, in-laws and successors.
Whatever its origins, "Termagant" became established in the West as the supposed name of the principal idol supposedly worshipped by Saracens, being regularly mentioned in chivalric romances and chansons de geste. The spelling of the name varies considerably (Tervigant, Tervagant, Tarvigant, etc.).
In Occitan literature, the troubadour Austorc d'Aorlhac refers to Bafomet and Termagant (Tervagan) side by side in one sirventes, referring also to the latter's "companions".
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Termagant
In the Middle Ages, Termagant or Tervagant was the name of a god that some European Christians believed Muslims worshipped. It originates in the eleventh-century Song of Roland.
The word is also used in modern English to mean a violent, overbearing, turbulent, brawling, quarrelsome woman; a virago, shrew, or vixen.
European literature from the Middle Ages often refers to Muslims as pagans and depicts them worshipping Muhammad along with various idols and sometimes other deities, such as Apollyon, Lucifer and Termagant. In some writings, such as the Song of Roland, these were combined to create an "unholy Trinity" of sorts composed of Apollyon, Muhammad and Termagant.
The original form of the name is Tervagan. There are many hypotheses explaining the origin of the name, but it does not seem to derive from any actual aspect of Muslim belief or practice, however wildly distorted. Gustav Beckmann lists 23 different theories. He defends that first proposed by Ugo Foscolo in 1819 that Tervagan is the dea trivia, the threefold moon goddess Luna–Diana–Persephone (or Selene–Artemis–Hecate), attested since classical antiquity. Thus, ter vagan means 'three wandering [i.e., like the moon]'. Apollyon (Apollin) is simply Apollo, Diana's brother.
Walter William Skeat, accepting the meaning "thrice wandering" as a reference to the moon, tied the name "Trivagante" to the Islamic use of crescent moon imagery. Joseph T. Shipley argues that the Italian Trivigante became confused with termigisto, meaning "boaster," derived from Hermes Trismegistus, leading to Termagant. Leo Spitzer argues that Tervagant, like several other names ending in -ant from the Matter of France (e.g. Baligant and Morgant), is an "occitanization" of a vulgar Latin present participle created by Old French poets for exotic effect. He proposes as its etymon terrificans ("terrifying"), appropriate for a god. Alternately, Aleksander Gieysztor derives the name from the Slavic deity Triglav, with the name having spread west into French-speaking lands.
James A. Bellamy proposes that the names Tervagan and Apollin in the Song of Roland derive from Ibn ʿAffān and Abū Bakr, two of Muhammad's companions, in-laws and successors.
Whatever its origins, "Termagant" became established in the West as the supposed name of the principal idol supposedly worshipped by Saracens, being regularly mentioned in chivalric romances and chansons de geste. The spelling of the name varies considerably (Tervigant, Tervagant, Tarvigant, etc.).
In Occitan literature, the troubadour Austorc d'Aorlhac refers to Bafomet and Termagant (Tervagan) side by side in one sirventes, referring also to the latter's "companions".