"Angel-maker"

Joel S. Berson Berson at ATT.NET
Sat Jun 10 13:43:56 UTC 2006


"Angel-maker" is not in OED2.  (However, it appears s.v. "patrist" in
the title of a book by G. R. Taylor.  I have heard/read it in English
somewhere/sometime.

Joel

 From another list:
>Axel Munthe, in  THE STORY OF SAN MICHELE, tells of his experiences
>as a doctor in Paris in the late 19th story. One is of a beautiful
>well-off woman who leaves her little newborn boy (the product of an
>affair?) with him to place with a couple in the country. He makes it
>clear that when he visits the child, he has been mistreated. On his
>next visit, the child has died. To no one's surprise, apparently.
>
>The whole sequence is understated, and horrifying.
>
>
>Axel Munthe, being Swedish, reminds me that in C19th Sweden there
>was a phrase specifically describing the couple (or woman) who
>performed this kind of service. They were known as "angel-makers".

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