Capricious / Mercurial

February 23rd, 2013 by admin

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Posted in columns, February 2013 | 4 comments

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4 comments on this post.

  1. Kip:

    March 25th, 2013 at 7:41 pm

    In the same vein I have heard that the Isle of Capri was named for capric acid which comes from the goats that used to inhabit the island.

  2. James:

    May 5th, 2018 at 6:55 pm

    A good well considered answer.

  3. Gail:

    June 12th, 2018 at 12:42 am

    Please update/comment in context of frequent use of “mercurial “ as applied to Trump. My take is that “mercurial “ has a positive connotation not applicable

  4. Sandra Hennessey:

    June 17th, 2021 at 10:18 am

    I read that the character Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet was so named due to his mercurial temperament. That idea predates your mention on its first use in English to the 17th Century. While Shakespeare didn’t use the word, you sense that it would have been an acceptable adjective to describe someone in his day. Of course, Shakespeare invented all kinds of words so maybe it wasn’t a common expression then!

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