tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5375681131276548542.post5876846910195854860..comments2024-02-27T10:53:04.581+01:00Comments on paperpools: arga warga revisitedHelen DeWitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07619602559096610012noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5375681131276548542.post-59728888210117469422009-10-27T22:05:10.002+00:002009-10-27T22:05:10.002+00:00speaking of arga warga, did you know this existed?...speaking of arga warga, did you know this existed? <br /><br />http://www.graphesthesia.com/rw/index.html<br /><br />the entry for arga warga is interesting:<br /><br />"An exclamation meaning that someone has met with a bad fate ('uh-oh'). Hoban explains it as 'onomatopoeia suggestive of gobbling-up' [EE], but he is also surely familiar with Baba Yaga, the ravenous old witch of Russian fairy tales. It also recalls argy-bargy, a Britishism meaning an argument or brawl. [EB] And: a warg is of course a wolf (Germanic—see Tolkien). Arga, in a northern Germanic language, makes insulting reference to a man supposed to be effeminate and a catamite. [SLK]" <br /><br />--not sure what brawls or catamites have to do with hoban's explanation, but well.Mithridateshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09071591560485370221noreply@blogger.com