A correspondent sends us an important correction. “Just a little factoid: while those in the other place do pronounce Magdalene as ‘Maudlin’, in Cambridge we always used ‘Mag-da-lene’ of the college which goes by that name.” My apologies to everyone at Mag-da-lene College, Cambridge. I feel especially guilty because I went to a tiny college called Saint John’s in Annapolis, Maryland, and every once in a while someone outside the college would try to pronounce the name “SIN-Jins.” I’m sorry to say that, though St. John’s was founded way back in 1696 (which seems like a very long time ago to us Americans), we still pronounce the name the way it’s spelled. We have at least that in common with the good people in Cambridge.
Another comment from Catalonia pointed out two Catalan expressions: plorar com una magdalena, “to cry like a Magdalene,” and semblar una Maria Magdalena, said of a woman with very long hair. Thank you for these very interesting observations, which give us more evidence of the prominent place of Mary Magdalene in popular piety.
