Mum's the word Mum's the word Mum's the word is a popular English idiom. It is related to an expression used by William Shakespeare, in "Henry VI, Part 2". The word “mum” is a slanged version of momme, which was used between 1350-1400 in Middle English with very close to the same meaning: Be silent; Do not reveal "Mum's the word" means to keep silent or quiet. "Mum" is a Middle English word meaning 'silent', and may be derived from the "mummer" who acts without speaking. Note the similar English word "mime" (Old English "mīma", Latin "mimus") meaning silent actor or imitator. The
Old English metre in alphabetical order of the most frequently used type-lines in the Old English corpus. Another metrical system was put forward by John C. Pope in which rhythmic stress is assigned using musical patterns. This system seems to make more sense when considering that the poetry of the Anglo-Saxons was set to music. An explanation of the Pope system is also included in Cassidy & Ringler and in "Eight Old English Poems". The theory of Old English metre has become an obsession for many scholars, such as Sievers, but what does it all mean in the overall study of Old English