Majordomo

My very own writing prompt!!!

I love doing the Daily Post Writing Prompts when I don’t have alot planned for Allison’s Written Words, since it helps with either learning new words or just coming up with creative word associations for ones I do know.

But of course, I’ll ask the question: Don’t you hate it when you get a word stuck in your head and have to look it up?  And if you’re anything like me, you need to look it up AND write a whole blog post about it.

Just please don’t have any hate for the people who have to write it down.  We can’t help ourselves!

Anyways…

I just finished reading the tie-in novelization for the live action version of Beauty and the Beast, and I kept seeing a word pop up that I do not recall hearing in either version of the film (and it certainly wasn’t in the novelization I read when I was nine years old).

“Majordomo.”

I kept seeing this word in regard to Cogsworth, whom as you know, was the mantle clock/friend of Lumiere.  I’d say they had a bromance, but…ok, it was probably a bromance.

I just hope I don’t get comments telling me “there’s fanfiction about this!”  Because no, I’m not reading it!

Anyway, the book used the word majordomo.  I kept filing it in the back of my head to look it up after I finished the book (despite the fact that I could have done it while I was reading it, so I didn’t aggravate myself with it!), and since I finished it last week, well, now I can look it up.

So, what’s it mean?

The chief steward of a large household.

The word “majordomo” has roots in medieval Latin as “major domus,” the highest official of the household.  This actual word is from the late 16th century via the Spanish and Italian languages.

Now, this may not seem interesting (feel free to either indulge or walk away), but Beauty and the Beast took place in France.  And yet, the book uses “majordomo” to describe Cogsworth. There’s a French translation – majordome.

So, it turns out, Cogsworth is a “Majordome”!

I know, not interesting, but just something I really wanted to look up and share.

Carry on!