In case you were wondering...
The Answers.com definition for "beldam" (what the entity that captures Coraline is referred to throughout the book):
Button eyes? Sharp teeth? A sentient hand and a penchant for masochism and mutilation?
How's a dame like that never find a fella and have some kids?
-Nick.
An old woman, especially one who is considered uglyHrm, so does this mean that the other mother was some sort of supernatural old maid? Was she a love-starved lady with a few, ahem, glaring eccentricities? If so, that makes her a much more tragic being, instead of a just awful one.
Button eyes? Sharp teeth? A sentient hand and a penchant for masochism and mutilation?
How's a dame like that never find a fella and have some kids?
-Nick.
posted by Nick Beadle at 1:17 PM
2 Comments:
So, about the first three times I saw that, I read it as "bedlam."
Anyway, that's interesting (the meaning, I mean), especially if I have assumed the correct etymology as "bel," good, and "dam," mother.
Also, the OED cites older definitions as "grandmother," or "ancestress." I wonder if this isn't intentional, considering the portal to the beldam in the story is in the room with all of the Coraline's grandmother's things.
Good thinking, Tara.
Folks, if you're interested in any English words in any of these texts, follow Tara's example and look them up in the Oxford English Dictionary, the language's best guide to multiple meanings and long histories that resonate.
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