curmudgeon (kermujon)

[First in this sense in the latter part of the 16th century, also spelled curmudgin; prob. a corruption (by a imilation of adjacent syllables) of cornmud gin, cornemudgin, popularly supposed to be a corruption of corn - merchant, but prop. (it seems) * corn mudging, which means 'corn-hoarding': see cornmudgin. The word thus meant orig. 'one who withholds corn,' popularly regarded as the type of churlish avarice.] An avaricious, churlish fellow; a miser; a niggard; a churl. IMG:content-1839.jpg:[graphic] IMG:content-1840.png:[blocks in formation] A gla of brandy to three gla es of wine prevents the curmurring in the stomach. Scott, Old Mortality, viii.