Tatterdemalion

[Douglas G. Wilson]

>What is the origin of tatterdemalion (a.k.a.  ragamuffin)?

Nobody knows exactly AFAIK.

Here is as good a Web explanation as I can find right away (in case Michael
Quinion is reluctant to toot his own horn):

http://www.quinion.com/words/weirdwords/ww-tat1.htm

The early pronunciation presumably rhymed with "stallion" or "Italian" (per
OED) and the "l" was often doubled in spelling. The word was rhymed with
the word "Italian" in its early use by Jonson in 1611, quoted in the OED: I
don't know whether this is what is meant by "said as though it were
Italian" in Quinion's page.

Quinion refers to the latter part of the word being derived from French
"maillon" or Italian "maglia". I don't know offhand who suggested such
derivations or with what evidence. These are both apparently derived from
Latin "macula" meaning "space/loop [in a net]" ... thence Italian "maglia"
= "knitting"/"knit shirt"/etc. (apparently via Occitan "malha") and French
"maille", whence "maillot" = "knit garment" etc.

Apparently there are also French "maillon", Occitan "malhon", both meaning
approx. "link"/"loop"/"ring", and Italian "maglione" = "sweater" or so.
However I suspect that the "-ion" ending in "tatterdemalion" is fanciful by
analogy with "cullion"/"gullion" (cf. "hellion"/"hallion",
"rapscallion"/"rampallion", "scullion"), intended to mean or connote
"wretched/lowly person".

Is the "-de-" just fanciful or is it part of an identifiable etymon? I
don't know, but compare French "démailler" ("de'mailler") = "break the
links of", "unravel [a knit garment]"/"make a run in [a stocking]": the
verb is old enough, but I don't know about its precise usage ca. 1600 nor
about whether it might have been used then in English (nonce perhaps).

So I would speculate that maybe the coinage reflects "tattered" +
"démaillé" (= "[un]raveled") + "-ion". This would seem reasonable
semantically, and perhaps as good a casual conjecture as any I've seen. I
see only now that a similar conjecture has been presented previously on the
Web -- http://hometown.aol.com/oddother/page6.htm -- with "desmaillier"
(the difference in spelling of the French verb appears to be insignificant).

-- Doug Wilson