Every educated person has heard of ironmongers and fishmongers. And, gossipmongers. We know what “iron”, “fish”, and “gossip” mean. What are “mongers”? From a dictionary: “Monger: From the old English mangere “merchant, trader, broker,” from mangian “to traffic, trade,” from Proto-Germanic *mangojan, monger, higgler”), from Latin mango (genitive mangonis) “dealer, trader, slave-dealer,” . . . […]
