different between mumchance vs mummer

English

Etymology

From Middle English mommen (“mutter, be silent”) and Middle High German mummenschantze (“game of chance as part of a masquerade, mime performance, revel”), from Old French momen (“mask”) and chance (“game of chance”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?m?m.t???ns/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?m?m.t?æns/

Adjective

mumchance (comparative more mumchance, superlative most mumchance)

1. Mute, or not speaking; silent.
   • 1966, Paul Scott, The Jewel in the Crown, p. 69

     I wrote Miss Crane off as mediocre because although she chatted quite pleasantly and intelligently over coffee she was mostly mumpchance at the dinner table. Oh, not mumpchance tout court.

   • 1978, Lawrence Durrell, Livia, Faber & Faber 1992 (Avignon Quintet), p. 446:

     The two little children stood mumchance, but with a kindly air.

   • 2001, Paula Marshall, Lord Hadleigh's Rebellion, Harlequin (Mills & Boon), 2008, page 124,

     If he did, he would remain mumchance about that, too.

Related terms

• mummer
• mummery

Noun

mumchance (plural mumchances)

1. An old game of chance played with cards in silence.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Decker to this entry?)

2. A silent, stupid person.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Halliwell to this entry?)

References

• Encarta World English Dictionary, North American Edition

English

Etymology

From a conflation of "mummer"; one that keeps silent, from mum, ultimately of imitative origin, and Old French momeor, from mommer (“to wear a mask”), from momon (“mask”). Compare German Mumme (“mask”), 16th Century German mummen (“to disguise oneself”), Middle Dutch mommen, mummen (“to go about in a mask, to disguise”), Middle Low Saxon mommen (“to wear a mask, to disguise”), Dutch mom (“mask”) and to mask as well as Spanish momo (“grimace”).

Perhaps both of the conflated terms are from the same ultimate root, as note Middle Low Saxon mummen (“to speak indistinctly, to disguise oneself”), Dutch mommen (“to speak indistinctly”), German mummen (“to speak indistinctly”), mump (“to grimace, to mumble”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?m?m.?/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?m?m.?/

Noun

mummer (plural mummers)

1. A person who dons a disguising costume, as for a parade or a festival.
2. An actor in a pantomime; one who communicates entirely through gesture and facial expression.

Synonyms

• (actor in a pantomime): mime

Related terms

• mummery
• mumchance

Translations