14 May 2014

monger

[muhng-ger, mong-]

noun

1. a person who is involved with something in a petty or contemptible way (usually used in combination): a gossipmonger.
2. Chiefly British . a dealer in or trader of a commodity (usually used in combination): fishmonger.

verb (used with object)
3. to sell; hawk.

Origin:
before 1000; Middle English (noun); Old English mangere, equivalent to mang ( ian ) to trade, act as a monger (≪ Latin mangō salesman) + -ere -er1 ; cognate with Old Norse, Old High German mangari

Related forms
mon·ger·ing, noun, adjective

Anagram

no germ

Today’s aphorism

Everything that happens, happens as it should, and if you observe carefully, you will find this to be so.

– Marcus Aurelius

On this day

14 May 1796 – Edward Jenner gives the first smallpox vaccination.

14 May 1879 – the first group of indentured Indians labourers arrive in Fiji aboard the Leonidas.

14 May 1919 – death of Henry John Heinz, founder of Heinz Company, responsible for canned baked beans. Born 11 October 1844.

14 May 1929 – Wilfred Rhodes takes his 4,000th first-class wicket at Leyton, after bowling 9/39. He played 58 test matches for England between 1899 and 1930. He was the first Englishman to complete both 1,000 runs and 100 wickets in Test cricket. He went on to achieve the double of 1,000 runs and 100 wickets in individual first-class seasons a record 16 times. He retired with first-class totals of 4,204 wickets and 39,969 runs. In Tests he retired with 127 wickets and 2,325 runs.

14 May 1939 – Lina Medina (born 27 September 1933 in Peru) becomes the world’s youngest confirmed mother at the age of five. She gave birth by a caesarean section, to a boy, weighing 2.7kg (6.0lb). He was named Gerardo after the doctor who delivered him. He was raised believing Lina was his sister. Gerardo died in 1979, aged 40, of a bone marrow disease. Following Gerardo’s birth, Lina was diagnosed with extreme ‘precocious puberty’, in which puberty occurs at an unusually early age. It was initially reported that she hit puberty by the age of three, however, a further medical report indicated she had commenced puberty by eight months old. Lina never revealed who the father was or the circumstances of her impregnation. Lina later married and had a second child in 1972, when she was 39. She presently lives in Lima, Peru.

14 May 1948 – the modern nation of Israel is established by United Nations Resolution 181.