What is a "minion"? This foreign word has many interpretations, but few of them are known to the general public. Meanwhile, it is used in various areas of life, for example, in music, photography, and typography. Interpretations, translation of the word, its spelling will be discussed in the article.
Word in dictionary
The meanings of the lexeme "minion" given in the dictionary differ in variety, although they have a common prototypical meaning. This is a kind of an item that is reduced in comparison with the usual one.
Here are some shades of interpretation:
- Elongated light bulb with small diameter base. Example: "The seller kindly offered three incandescent minion lamps and one halogen lamp."
- Small size photo. Example: “The advertisement for the electrophotography “Image” indicated the performance of various photographic works, including office, business, bijou, boudoir, minions. As well asenlarged portraits were suggested.”
To understand what a "minion" is, other interpretations of the word should be considered.
In music
- A musical term for a small record: a phonograph record or long-playing record, 17.5 centimeters in diameter. In a broader sense, these are plates of all sizes that are less than 20 centimeters. Example: "This simple song performed by a popular singer quickly became a hit, it was released on a minion and was heard from every window."
- Also in music, marked "historical". So, "Welte Mignon" is a brand of mechanical piano produced by the German factory "Welte". And also any small piano. Example: “They brought a wonderful musical instrument, it was a minion. The four w altzes played on it were particularly well received by the audience.”
In continuation of the study of what a "minion" is, several more of its meanings will be discussed.
In typography
A typographic term for less than seven-point font that is slightly smaller than petite. (The size is the font size, the height of the letter, measured in points; one point equals 0.376 mm. Petite is an 8-point font). Example: “When all the manuscripts that were in the portfolio of the editorial board were collected, a thick book was formed, amounting to forty-four conditional printed sheets, typed in such small print as minion or petite.”
Small format book. Example: “In order to save space when distributing books “by height”, it is accepteddistribute them according to the main formats - by folios, quarts, octaves, and for small editions - by minions.”
Etymology and spelling
To consolidate the understanding of what a "minion" is, a deepening into its origin will help.
The studied lexeme came to Russian from French by borrowing. There is a noun mignon, this word in translation means “cute”, “charming”, “tiny”. It comes from the Old French noun mignot, which, according to linguists, originates in the Celtic language. It is also compared with the Old Irish adjective min meaning "soft", "gentle" and with the Old High German nouns minna and minnja, which means "memory", "love".
Since the unstressed vowel sound in the first syllable is not clearly heard during the pronunciation of the studied lexeme, the question often arises: how is the word “minion” spelled? It should be noted that it will not be possible to check it using any rule, since it is a dictionary one, that is, one whose spelling must be remembered. If you look in the dictionary, you can see that this term is written through the letter "and" in the first syllable. The correct spelling would be "Mignon", not "Mignon".
Favorites of roy alty and princes
They were called minions in France in the 15th century, later this word became the designation of a devoted servant. Especially in this capacity, young people devoted to King Henry III became famous. They caused shock among the courtiers with numerous daring and funny tricks, as well as amorousadventures and noisy revels.
The outfits of the minions were original and contained some elements of the female toilet. These included, for example, wide ruffles, which were a kind of jabot, and curled hair. This appearance was often the object of ridicule, as was their immense arrogance. The king gave his favorites lands and titles, he was ready to fulfill any of their whims. This angered both the common people and the nobility.
The famous duel of minions, during which two favorites died, and the third died later due to a serious wound, was a heavy blow for Heinrich. In memory of them, the king erected a magnificent tomb.
