† miching malicho
Occurs only in the Shakes. passage quoted, and echoes of it; of uncertain form, origin, and meaning.
It is probable, though hardly certain, that the first word is mitching ppl. a. The conjecture that the second word represents Sp. malhecho misdeed (whence Malone and subsequent editors print mallecho) yields a fairly satisfactory sense; but there is no evidence that the Sp. word was familiar in English, and its pronunciation (malˈetʃo) does not account for the forms in the early editions.
| 1602 Shakes. Ham. iii. ii. 146 Marry this is Miching Malicho [sic Fol. 1 (1623): Q 1 (1603) myching Mallico; Q 2 (1604) munching Mallico], that meanes Mischeefe. 1836 E. Howard R. Reefer xliii, There was no ‘minching malicho’, or anything like mischief. 1882 Stevenson in Longm. Mag. I. 71 Other spots again seem to abide their destiny, suggestive and impenetrable, ‘miching mallecho’. |