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
The Old English Boethius and digressions throughout explaining allusions. Many of these additions come from glosses to contemporary Latin manuscripts of the "Consolation", which were obviously used in the translation process. There is also a significant number of references to Christianity within the translation which are entirely absent in Boethius's work. Sometime after the composition of the prose translation, someone adapted the prose translations of Boethius's metres into Old English alliterative verse. They are an important example of relatively securely dateable Old English poetry. The Old English Boethius The Old English Boethius is an Old English translation/adaptation of the sixth-century "Consolation of Philosophy" by