Marión

Historical scholarship

Passages quoted verbatim from public-domain reference works. They reflect the scholarship of their time, not current consensus, and may use obsolete spellings.

• 1884From the archives

  Marion— “bitter”

  Very soon had her fame travelled abroad, for in 1332 the play of _Robin et Marion_ was performed by the students of Angers, one of them appearing as a _fillette déguisée_. The origin of _Marionettes_, puppets disguised to play the part of Maid Marion, is thus explained. They may, however, have received their name from the habit of calling small images of the Blessed Virgin Mariettes, or Marionettes. Several streets of old Paris, in which were such images, were called Rue des…

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  Very soon had her fame travelled abroad, for in 1332 the play of _Robin et Marion_ was performed by the students of Angers, one of them appearing as a _fillette déguisée_. The origin of _Marionettes_, puppets disguised to play the part of Maid Marion, is thus explained. They may, however, have received their name from the habit of calling small images of the Blessed Virgin Mariettes, or Marionettes. Several streets of old Paris, in which were such images, were called Rue des Mariettes, or later, Rue des Marionettes. All puppets there came to be called Mariettes and Marmousets; and two streets of Paris were down to the last century called Rue des Marmousets. Henri Etienne says: “Never did the Egyptians take such cruel vengeance for the murder of their cats, as has been wreaked in our days on those who had mutilated some Marmouset or Marionette.” Even the bauble of a licensed fool was a Marotte, from the little head at its point, and the supernatural dolls of sorcerers, in the form of toads or apes, were described as Marionettes in an account of a trial for witchcraft in 1600.…

  Yonge, History of Christian Names (1884), Part I, Chapter III (Israelite Names), Section I (Moses and Aaron) · Public domain (Project Gutenberg)