“cum” is Latin for “with” and is sometimes used in English to show that something is two things at once, so “minstrel-cum-clown” would be someone who is both a minstrel and a clown
Huh, that seems plausible, but it’s usually between other Latin words. I can’t think of any where “cum” would be interjected between English words. Are there other examples, is this a thing?
I wouldn’t consider it odd to see it between two English words. ‘Seminar-cum-workshop’ is one example I found with plenty of search results.
It’s also used (with the same meaning) in English place names e.g. the Beegees are from Chorlton-cum-Hardy.
Russian speaker here, seems like a typo or translation error. Can’t think of why this would happen, but I don’t think cum plays any part in this.
Interesting etymology though, the Italian scaramuccia (joker/jester/clown) seems pretty plausible.
“cum” is Latin for “with” and is sometimes used in English to show that something is two things at once, so “minstrel-cum-clown” would be someone who is both a minstrel and a clown
Huh, that seems plausible, but it’s usually between other Latin words. I can’t think of any where “cum” would be interjected between English words. Are there other examples, is this a thing?
I wouldn’t consider it odd to see it between two English words. ‘Seminar-cum-workshop’ is one example I found with plenty of search results.
It’s also used (with the same meaning) in English place names e.g. the Beegees are from Chorlton-cum-Hardy.