Words & Stuff

According to the Shorter Oxford Dictionary, pundigrion is another word for pun.

That dictionary gives the origin of the term as “Perh. fanciful alt. of punctilio.”

The OED tells me that “This word is now obsolete. It is last recorded around the 1820s.”

One might wonder whether this word is the origin of pun. Turns out that it might be, but we don’t know! The Shorter Oxford Dictionary says, of pun: “Origin uncertain: perh. short for pundigrion.” But MW says (of pun): “perhaps from Italian puntiglio fine point, quibble.”