maudlin

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   Either of two aromatic plants, costmary or sweet yarrow.

   Common Maudlin have somewhat long and narrow leaves, snipped about the edges.

2. 2
   adj

   Affectionate or sentimental in an effusive, tearful, or foolish manner, especially because of drunkenness.

   Why, man, you couldn't stand—you made everybody laugh in the Gardens, though you were crying yourself. You were maudlin, Jos. Don't you remember singing a song?

3. 3
   adj

   Extravagantly or excessively sentimental; mawkish, self-pitying.

   To cap it all I had written a letter to Mara saying that we had to find a way out soon or I would commit suicide. It must have been a maudlin letter because when she telephoned me she said it was imperative to see me immediately.

Simplified etymology

Maudlin was a medieval form of Magdalene in the name Mary Magdalene. Because later tradition portrayed her as a repentant sinner who wept, her name developed the sense “tearfully sentimental,” later especially describing drunken sentimentality. Magdalene means “woman from Magdala”; the town’s name comes from an Aramaic word meaning “tower.”

From Middle English Maudelen, a dialectal form of Mary Magdalene (typically depicted weeping), from Old French Madelaine (whence Madeleine), from Late Latin Magdalena (see Magdalena, Magdalene, and Maudlin).

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