What does vorpal mean?

[mmadsen]

Looking back at the original poem, it's not even clear that the vorpal blade beheaded the jabberwocky -- until it was already dead, that is:

'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 hast 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.​

It took four sword strokes -- One, two! One, two! -- which might even have been thrusts to the body -- And through and through / The vorpal blade went snicker-snack! -- before he took off its head as a trophy -- He left it dead, and with its head / He went galumphing back.

 

[Janx]

It took four sword strokes -- One, two! One, two! -- which might even have been thrusts to the body -- And through and through / The vorpal blade went snicker-snack! -- before he took off its head as a trophy -- He left it dead, and with its head / He went galumphing back.

Or, you could interpret the "and through and through" as the blade slicing THROUGH the monster like butter.

it is most likely he fought the monster with a slashing action, and a truly sharp blade would slice parts off.

Including the head. "He left it dead, and with its head" does not imply he took seperate action to remove the head. The head may already have been lying on the ground as the result of one of the four sword attacks.

With the D&D context of Vorpal meaning sharp and head-lopping, I've always assumed the head was taken off during the fight, and not as a seperate act.

 

[Umbran]

Looking back at the original poem, it's not even clear that the vorpal blade beheaded the jabberwocky -- until it was already dead, that is:
...
It took four sword strokes -- One, two! One, two!

Do remember, it is a poem, not a round-by-round explicit description of combat. Trying to read a poem too literally rather misses the point of poetry.

 

[Celebrim]

Looking back at the original poem, it's not even clear that the vorpal blade beheaded the jabberwocky -- until it was already dead, that is

I agree.

But in answer to your question, it is a nonsense word without meaning. So, as Humpty-Dumpty states, "When I use a word...it means just what I choose it to mean"

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Do remember, it is a poem, not a round-by-round explicit description of combat. Trying to read a poem too literally rather misses the point of poetry.

Especially considering that this poem in particular is full of other neologisms. The guy was making it up as he went along, literally and literarily.

 

[Lord Pendragon]

it is a nonsense word without meaning.

This. The author was playing with the sounds.

 

[Alzrius]

From Wikipedia:

Alexander L. Taylor points out in his Carroll biography The White Knight that "vorpal" can be formed by taking letters alternately from "verbal" and "gospel".

Carroll himself once wrote, "I am afraid I can't explain 'vorpal blade' for you—nor yet 'tulgey wood.'"

 

[TarionzCousin]

Vorpal is obviously an adjective meaning something that goes snicker-snack.

So you could have a vorpal piano if it made those kinds of sounds--like, say, if your cat had hidden a dead bird inside it that you didn't notice until pounding on the keys.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

That reminds me...a buddy of mine in college used to sing a song called "Kitty Kitty Fan Belt Blues."

 

[Scott DeWar]

Vorpal is obviously an adjective meaning something that goes snicker-snack.

So you could have a vorpal piano if it made those kinds of sounds--like, say, if your cat had hidden a dead bird inside it that you didn't notice until pounding on the keys.

That reminds me...a buddy of mine in college used to sing a song called "Kitty Kitty Fan Belt Blues."

that is just wrong. I wish I had a ban hammer!