Talk:galumphing

First let me state that I am new to this and am unsure of the form that entries should take.

First: galupmphing is not strictly speaking a nonce word. It occurs in 2 works by Lewis Carrol, the common reference being "Trhough the Looking Glass" and the other being in "The Hunting of the Snark", Fit 4, verse 17.

In "The Annotated Alice", Martin Gardner 1960, Pg 196 annotation 31 he states: "This Carrolian word has entered the Oxford English Dictionary where it is attributed to Carrol and defined as a combination of 'gallop' and 'triumphant,' meaning 'to march on exultantly with irregular bounding movements.'"

This is not the same as the definition of this word derived from the Wiktionary entry for Galumph: "(intransitive) to move heavily and clumsily".

To my mind Galumphing is more the action one might have when returning from victorius battle riding a slightly injured Ostrich, or perhaps the movement I expect the creature on the movie poster for the Ralph Bakshi film "Wizards" would have.


 * Welcome! the ety says that Carroll used it as a nonce, which I think is true. It is not a nonce now, or in other usage, which is what the entry says. The current usage does seem to have the "weighty" connotation. (And I know Jabberwocky by heart. Of course!) Robert Ullmann 16:06, 23 February 2007 (UTC)

Is not the first occurance of any word a nonce or perhaps, as in this case, a hapax legomenon at least until the second usage. Since Carrol reused the word in "Snark" in 1876 a mere 4 years after the publication of "Through the Looking Glass", it ceased to be a nonce word at that time. I believe that it should not be listed as a nonce but rather a portmanteau word and that both the original and current definitions should be listed. What are your thoughts? --71.85.101.44 17:36, 23 February 2007 (UTC)


 * Isn't it still a nonce if it's the same author using it? I would expect a second independent creation for it not to be a nonce. Equinox ◑ 13:31, 12 October 2019 (UTC)