I picked up one of Garrison Keillor’s books on the Lake Woebegone folk the other day and decided to chase up the word woebegone. It seems a contradiction at first sight in that instead of meaning woe being banished (begone meaning: go away immediately) it means appearing woeful. The “begone in this case derives from the past participle of the Old English “bego” meaning surround.

At the back of my mind I feel that there is at least one other word ending in “~begone”, but I can’t capture it. I have also tried to find other words derived from “bego” but with no success. It’s really bugging me, can anyone help?

dxb