LL-L 'Etymology' 2007.01.15 (06) [E/LS]

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L O W L A N D S - L - 15 January 2007 - Volume 06

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From: A Victorie <victorie.a at home.nl>
Subject: LL-L 'Etymology' 2007.01.15 (01) [E]

Moi Leslie,

Wele wet, kuj hier wat mit.

Goodgaon,

Arend Victorie.
*Munchkins* are the natives of the fictional Munchkin Country in the Oz
books by L. Frank Baum. They first appeared in the 1900 novel *The Wonderful
Wizard of Oz*, in which they are described as being somewhat short of
stature, and wear only blue.

They are probably better known from their depiction in the 1939 film *The
Wizard of Oz*, in which they are played by adult midgets and dress in
brightly multicolored outfits.
*Appearance*

The following is an excerpt from chapter two of *The Wonderful Wizard of Oz*,
in which Dorothy first meets four munchkins:

"*...she noticed coming toward her a group of the queerest people she had
ever seen. They were not as big as the grown folk she had always been used
to; but neither were they very small. In fact, they seemed about as tall as
Dorothy, who was a well-grown child for her age, although they were, so far
as looks go, many years older.*
*Origin of the Term* Baum never explained where the term came from, but Baum
researcher Brian Attebery has hypothesised that there might be a connection
to the emblem of the Bavarian city of Munich, known as the Münchner Kindl
[1] (Munich Child). The symbol was originally a 13th century statue of a
monk, looking down from the town hall in Munich. Over the years the image
was reproduced many times, for instance as a figure on Beer steins, and
eventually evolved into a child wearing a pointed hood. Baum's family had
German origins: Baum could have seen one such reproduction in his childhood,
and woven his story around

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From: Kevin and Cheryl Caldwell <kevin.caldwell1963 at verizon.net>
Subject: LL-L 'Etymology' 2007.01.15 (05) [E]

> From: David Barrow <davidab at telefonica.net.pe>
> Subject: LL-L 'Etymology' 2007.01.15 (01) [E]
> Wikipedia also relates it to Oz
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Munchkin
>
> David

Another Wikipedia article explains the use of the term "Munchkin" among
role-playing gamers, and thus why the card game is called "Munchkin":

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Munchkin_%28role-playing_games%29

Kevin Caldwell

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From: Ed Alexander <edsells at cogeco.ca>
Subject: LL-L 'Etymology' 2007.01.15 (05) [E]

At 11:57 AM 01/15/07 -0800, David Barrow wrote:

>My friends and I were playing the game Munchkin this evening, which is a
>sort of spoof on role-playing games like Dungeons and Dragons.  The
>cards are quite funny, and I was explaining to them (who are German and
>Mexican) what some of the puns and cultural references meant (ex: Rapier
>Twit, The Shadow Nose, etc.).  At one point one of them asked me what
>exactly a munchkin was.  While explaining it to them, I couldn't help
>wondering what the etymology of the word is.  The -kin part is clear,
>but 'munch?'  It's obviously not to do with eating anything, and to me
>it's way to close to 'Mensch' to discount.
>
>A quick google search only related it to the Wizard of Oz, and I can't
>access the OED online anymore since I'm no longer a student, so I'm
>asking people here for their ideas, opinions, and research to answer the
>question of the background of the word.

L. Frank Baum was a ne'er do too well travelling salesman.  However, he
seemed to have a knack for telling stories to children.  At one point, one
of the children, a young girl, took sick and died, and the original Oz book
was conceived to invent a land where this little girl from Kansas went,
when she disappeared.  Baum was a very imaginative person, and probably had
nothing in mind when he thought of the names of the four countries that
made up the Land of Oz, such as the Land of the Gillikins, etc.  However,
the name of the land, Oz, occurred to him one day when trying to think of a
name.  In his musings, his eye wandered to his two drawer filing cabinet
which was labelled, A-Z, and O-Z.

Ed Alexander, whose mother, himself, and his daughter grew up on these
books.
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