Pictured here is a very old example of a Portmanteau. This particular example was made for George Washington and is held by the Museum of the American Revolution. What makes it a portmanteau is that it’s a bag or case with two separate parts joined together.
This Thought is a Part 2 and in an earlier Thought I described my keen interest in words and their origins and, on that occasion, the difference between ‘luggage’ and ‘baggage’.
We remain in that field with our portmanteau but did you know that, thanks to Lewis Carroll and Alice through the Looking Glass, portmanteau has also carried over into the world of words. The explanation for that comes from the mouth of Humpty Dumpty as Alice asks him to explain the meaning of the word ‘slithy’: “Well, ‘slithy’ means ‘lithe and slimy.’ ‘Lithe’ is the same as ‘active.’ You see it’s like a portmanteau—there are two meanings packed up into one word.”
And so was born the ‘portmanteau word’ that merges two existing words to make a new one, like breakfast and lunch making brunch. Lewis Carroll, himself, created several and one of his we still use is chortle which brings together snort and chuckle.
Back, though, to baggage because we can use that word in both an external and an internal sense. We can take a flight and talk about carry-on baggage but we can also speak of the baggage we carry to mean that load of worry and responsibility that feels like an inner weight bearing down on us. Jesus recognised that weight when he said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28) He also spoke critically of the Pharisees who, by contrast, ‘tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them’ (Matthew 23:4).
I thought, if I was really clever, I might finish by finding a portmanteau word to remind us of Jesus as the one who shares our loads and carries our baggage. I don’t think ‘Larer’ (load sharer) or ‘Shaggage’ (sharer of our baggage) are likely to catch on. ‘Cabbage’ (carrier of our baggage) is already taken as is its reverse ‘Barrier’ (baggage carrier) but that last one may still be a useful aide memoire. The kind of religious duty imposed by the Pharisees was a barrier to people finding rest and freedom. What Jesus brings us is not a barrier but an open invitation: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”
Prayer: Jesus, I hear your words. Protect me from the temptation of the Pharisees to see the spiritual life as being about rules and regulations that provide little relief and just add more and more baggage. Instead, help me develop my relationship with you that I may know, more and more, the rest and the peace that you promise. Amen.