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Wednesday, August 3, 2022

Paddock in Mackbeth means a toad

There was a puzzle for me when I started to read just first lines in the Shakespaer's Mackbeth when the withches are speaking in the Act 1, Scene 1. What is Graymalkin and Paddock?
And now just found on the web that when the withches are calling Graymalkin, that means archaic term for a cat (Grimalkin, Wikipedia), and Paddock means a toad, because the word Paddock has two meanings, first, an enclosure for cattle, and second, a toad, from Old Norse padda, a toad, a frog (Douglas Harper Etymonline https://www.etymonline.com/word/paddock).
So, the Shakespear's withches are calling here unclean spirits, a cat (Graymalkin) and a toad (Paddock), as I have found also on the web on Shakespeare Online (Mabillard, Amanda. Macbeth Glossary. Shakespeare Online. 20 Aug. 2009. http://shakespeare-online.com/plays/macbeth/macbethglossary/macbeth1_1/macbethglos_graymalkin.html).

Thomas Barker of Bath. Macbeth and the Witches. 1830. Wikimedia Commons

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