What's Vorpal?

The only place I've seen it (other than in Monty Python and the Holy Grail "arrrgh it's the vorpal bunny, he's got nasssty teeth...") is from the poem Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll.

`Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

"Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!"

He took his vorpal sword in hand:
Long time the manxome foe he sought --
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood awhile in thought.

And as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!

One, two! One, two! And through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.

"And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!"
He chortled in his joy.

`Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
 
I've wondered myself. It's used frequenty in Fred Perrin's Knife reviews, so I kind of figured it was french :-) He also uses the word polyvalent to mean versitile, but my dictionary says it means "with more than one valence" Thanks dictionary, big help :-) It might be a chemistry thing. If anyone finds out, I'd love to know. Also, I remember hearing the word vorpal tossed around as a noun with reference to computer game graphics engines.
 
Polyvalent, outside of chemistry, literally means "having many values." In the case of knives, this could mean the ability to serve the purposes of many knives. A SAK is rather polyvalent. But what in the world is vorpal?
 
"vorpal" is a nonsense word. It has no meaning at all, but it is occasionally used by makers (I think Tom Maringer was the first) in a light hearted way, for the enjoyment of "Jabberwocky" fans like Elvis and I.
To call a blade "vorpal" means nothing concrete, but as in the poem, implies that it is indeed "something special."
 
Right on, Ken Cook. Vorpal sharp to me means magically sharp, so sharp it will peel the white off a ceramic rod.
 
In AD&D, a vorpal sword is imbued with a magickal sharpness which enables it to sever limbs (including your head) with distressing ease.

While I'm uncertain as to whether or not the word has any historical basis, before "Jabberwocky," I would guess that it's simply one of those hyperbolic terms meant to infer, "Look, Bucko--this blade is really sharp. Sharper than the sharpest sharp thing you can imagine. If you really don't believe it, then you deserve what you've got coming, but for all of you out there with the smallest evolutionary modicum of God-given brain matter, it's sharp."

My. $.02 (rendered in stone, Topongan chariot wheels).

:D
 
"slithy, mimsy, outgrabe, uffish, vorpal"...

All of these words and most of the other ones you don't know in the above poem were 'made up' by Mr Dodgeson, usually by combining two existing words. The meanings of these words are derived from their sound...and context. :D


Hope this helps!


Steve-O
 
There is a glossary at this website which explains some of the words he made up for the poem Jabberwocky. "Vorpal" itself isn’t defined; it’s just a nonsense adjective. Since it described the sword with which the hero slew the Jabberwock, it came to mean a very special sort of sword indeed.
 
"Jabberwocky" is a nonsense poem, but it was so famous that some of the made up words it contains became "legitimate" English words and were included in later dictionaries. For example: "chortle" was a word first used in "Through the Looking Glass", but you now find it in every major dictionary. Here's an entry that gives a history of the word - www.dictionary.com/cgi-bin/dict.pl?term=chortle

Some of the words in the poem seem meaningless today, but they would have been more familiar to readers when the poem was written. For instance: "snicker-snack" comes from the word "snickersnee". It's not really used anymore, but the word used to refer to a large knife or knife fighting.

I haven't seen "vorpal" in any dictionary yet, but who knows? If people keep using it, maybe the word will eventually start to appear in dictionaries. It seems that the consensus definition would be something like: "Supernaturally sharp or dangerous; a blade that can sever limbs with unnatural ease."
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top