What does the word "Vorpal" come from?

[Gez]

Les huit scaroles n'est pas un Python, mais une salade.

(Untranslatable joke.)

<table>
<tr><td>`Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

"Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!"

He took his vorpal sword in hand:
Long time the manxome foe he sought --
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood awhile in thought.

And, as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!

One, two! One, two! And through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.

"And, has thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!'
He chortled in his joy.

`Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.</td><td>

</td></tr></table>

 

[Gez]

Damn, I should not have switched to Nutkinland when the "Preview" page started to be longish. Now, 743 people beat me to it.

 

[nikolai]

Well, I looked it up in two online dictionaries (at www.m-w.com and www.cambridge.org/elt ) and the world 'vorpal' as spelled didn't come up in either one.

From the online Oxford English Dictionary.

vorpal, a.

A word invented by ‘Lewis Carroll’ app. with the sense ‘keen, deadly’; also in subsequent allusive uses.

1871 ‘L. CARROLL’ Through Looking-Glass i. 22 The vorpal blade went snicker-snack! 1941 AUDEN New Year Let. II. 44 Wave at the mechanized barbarian The vorpal sword of an agrarian. 1970 [see FRABJOUS a.].

It's ironic that meanings have been assigned to nonsense words he invented and have subsequently made it into the dictionary. Perhaps in a century's time people will be reading Jabberwocky and what exactly is going on will be crystal clear.

 

[glass]

I always thought 'vorpal' meant pertaining to a vortex. No idea why, or what that might have to do with decapitation.


glass.

 

[diaglo]

It's ironic that meanings have been assigned to nonsense words he invented and have subsequently made it into the dictionary. Perhaps in a century's time people will be reading Jabberwocky and what exactly is going on will be crystal clear.

i always pictured it as the Original Light saber

 

[Plane Sailing]

DATAWOCKY by Jack Stack

'Twas global and the megabytes
Did gyre and gimbal on the disk
All mimsy were the prompts and codes
And the software was brisk

Beware the microchip my son
The bits, the bytes and bauds and such
Beware the CRT and shun
The qwerty keyboard's clutch

He took his self-pace book in hand
Long time the menu key he sought
Then wrestled he with the toaster drive
And sat a while in thought

Then as he sought that glitchy bug
The microchip, with gates aflame;
Came whiffling through its I/O plug
And processed as it came

Asynch, Bisynch, all protocols,
His binary went snicker snack,
He felt it crash, and with a dash
He came galumphing back

And didst thou tame the microchip
Come interface my beamish boy
O frabjous day, Caloo! Callay!
O database, O Joy

'Twas global and the megabytes
Did gyre and gimbal on the disk
All mimsy were the prompts and codes
And the software was brisk

 

[Plane Sailing]

"Abacus"
'Twas busy, and the server tones,
Did beep and buzz all day,
All satisfied were the Netscape users,
And JAVA was okay.


Beware the Browser Mock, my client,
The contracts bind, the pages crash,
Beware Bill Gates, the software giant,
And all his monopoly trash.


They took their presentation boards in hand,
Long time they battled in court,
So struggled on the lawyer band,
Whining as their last resort.


Computer buyers stood aghast,
The Browser Mock, with exploiting ad,
Said that Netscape could not last,
And that made the clients mad!


Internet Exploiter! We hate you!
The browser market was taken back!
A cream pie flew; Bill Gates will sue,
But it made a triumphant whack!


And hast thou deleted the Browser Mock?
Come to my webpage Netscape friend,
And all the JAVA script will rock!
The joyful E-mail will even send!


'Twas busy, and the server tones,
Did beep and buzz all day,
All satisfied were the Netscape users,
And JAVA was okay.

 

[nikolai]

Okay, this is a waste of time, but I am bored.

It just kills me that someone can make up a nonsense word, and if they do it well enough other people will add a definition and put it in the dictionary. I searched for Through the Looking-Glass in the quotations attached to words in the OED. bold words had their first recorded use in Jabberwocky, underlined words were used before, but are quoted from Jabberwocky and were often given a new meaning by the poem. Italicised words are real words, but may not otherwise be obvious as such.

The Annotated Jabberwocky

`Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

`Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!'

He took his vorpal sword in hand:
Long time the manxome foe he sought --
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood awhile in thought.

And as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!

One, two! One, two! And through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.

`And has thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!
He chortled in his joy.

`Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

I have to say, I never thought chortle was a made-up work (the dictionary refers to them as factitious, which is a nice way of putting it). I always thought it was an age old part of the English language that entered use the normal way.

 

[Gez]

Bredoulocheux

Il était ardille; et les slictueux toves
Sur l'allouinde gyraient et vriblaient;
Tout flivoreux vaguaient les borogoves;
Les verchons fourgus bourniflaient.

«Au Bredouloche prends bien garde, mon fils!
A sa griffe qui mord, à sa gueule qui happe!
Gare l'oiseau JeubJeub, et laisse
En paix le frumieux, le fatal Pincemacaque!»

Le jeune homme, ayant ceint sa vorpaline épée,
Longtemps cherchait le monstre manxiquais,
Puis, arrivé près de l'arbre Tépé,
Pour réfléchir un instant s'arrêtait.

Or, tandis qu'il lourmait de suffèches pensées,
Le Bredouloche, l'oeil flamboyant,
Ruginiflant par le bois touffeté,
Arrivait en barigoulant!

Une, deux! une, deux! Fulgurant, d'outre en outre,
Le glaive vorpalin perce et tranche : flac-vlan!
Il terrasse la bête et, brandissant sa tête,
Il s'en retourne, galomphant.

«Tu as tué le Bredouloche!
Dans mes bras, mon fils rayonnois!
O jour frableux! callouh! calloc!»
Le vieux glouffait de joie.

Il était ardille; et les slictueux toves
Sur l'allouinde gyraient et vriblaient;
Tout flivoreux vaguaient les borogoves;
Les verchons fourgus bourniflaient.

 

[Gez]

It just kills me that someone can make up a nonsense word, and if they do it well enough other people will add a definition and put it in the dictionary.

All words that are not derived from another were nonsense words at first. Poets, playwrights, and other writers are the primary source of new words (for example, Molière created Tartuffe and Mamamouchi, which now exist in English as well).