Mahound

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See also: mahound

English[edit]

English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Alternative forms[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Middle English Mahown, from Anglo-Norman Mahun, Old French Mahum, Mahom, shortened from Mahomed (Muhammad) (see Muhammad for more). Compare mammet.

Pronunciation[edit]

  • (UK) IPA(key): /məˈhuːnd/, /məˈhaʊnd/

Noun[edit]

Mahound (plural Mahounds)

  1. (archaic, now rare) Muhammad, believed by medieval Europeans to be a demon or god that Muslims worshipped. [from 13th c.]
    • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “(please specify the book)”, in The Faerie Queene. [], London: [] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
      But, when he to himselfe returnd againe, / All full of rage he gan to curse and sweare, / And vow by Mahoune that he should be slaine.
    • 1820, Walter Scott, Ivanhoe:
      “Now, in faith,” said Wamba, “I cannot see that the worshippers of Mahound and Termagaunt have so greatly the advantage over the people once chosen of Heaven.”
  2. (obsolete) A generic pagan god or idol believed by medieval Europeans to be worshipped by various villains such as Herod I. [13th–16th c.]
  3. (now rare, chiefly in Scotland and Ireland) The Devil. [from 14th c.]
    • 1922, James Joyce, Ulysses:
      And there were vessels that are wrought by magic of Mahound out of seasand and the air by a warlock with his breath that he blares into them like to bubbles.