The Scary History of Tutivillus

Hello,

I was using my copy of “Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable” again last week (a very useful book in my line of work) and noticed the word tutivillus. He defines it as a demon who collects all the words skipped over or mutilated by priests in the celebration of Mass. He deposits them in the hell pit which is said to be paved with good intentions never brought to effect.

A 1960s Mass missal

I love the idea of a tiny demon skipping around the church gathering up these mispronunciations and mistakes in its little sack. I’m not alone either. Apparently the tutivillus also tormented the writers of medieval religious manuscripts, gathering up their mistakes. Tutivillus have been illustrated in church carvings and illustrations of the time. I came across one scholar whose dissertation was entirely on the topic – you might enjoy her blog post for more detail.

This patron demon of scribes was also liable to collect up the chatter and gossip of parishioners not paying sufficient attention during religious services and it bedeviled the early typesetters of printing presses. I think this means that when I make a typo in my writing the tutivillus might be behind it. Those of us old enough to recall a certain Paperclip Tool in a Microsoft Word software will suspect that paperclip was a demon too.

The etymology of the demon’s name is murky at best but one of the earliest recorded uses was in 1286 by Johannes Galensis.

The reason I was rummaging in my dictionary of phrase and fable was that I’m working on “Words Weather Gave Us”. Regular readers will know that I’m happy to include words suggested by blog readers in my books – if you have any to suggest, please comment below and you’ll get a mention in the acknowledgements when the book is published. Don’t worry – I’ll do the word history research.

They say not to judge a book by its cover but I need you to do just that. If you liked the cover of my book, “Words Christmas Gave Us”, please vote for it for the Cover of the Month contest on AllAuthor.com today (closing 30 March 2025). I need your support and voting only takes a moment. Click here to vote. Thanks so much!

Until next time happy reading, writing, and wordfooling,

Grace (@Wordfoolery)

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