Talk:tatterdemalion

Heh, only in this dictionary would you find the Estonian for Tatterdemalion. --Eean 06:53, 16 Dec 2004 (UTC)

HERE

http://etyman.wordpress.com/2009/06/15/tatterdemalion-%CB%88taet%C9%99d%C9%AA%CB%8Cmael%C9%AA%C9%99n/

shows Ben Johnson used the term in

“This Horse pictur’d showes that our Tatter-de-mallian Did ride the French Hackneyes and lye with th’ Italian.”

So wrote Ben Johnson in his 1611 book Introductory Verses in Coryat’s Crudities. It refers to “a person in tattered clothing; a ragged or beggarly fellow; a ragamuffin” (OED, Vol.XVII, p.664). The word is also found written as tatterdemalion or tatterdemallion.