Who're You Callin' a Myrmidon?

Michael Quinion has a crisp and informative discussion up this morning on the meaning of " Myrmidon" --once just a warlike people of Thessaly, but as Michael says:

The word has existed in English since medieval times but over time has become progressively less reputable. For Shakespeare, myrmidons were faithful followers, the members of a bodyguard or retinue. A century later they had become hired ruffians or mercenaries. By the nineteenth century they had sunk somewhat lower to be opportunistic supporters of some person or organisation. Today a myrmidon is often an unscrupulous subordinate.

I think I can help on that one. I think we muddle "myrmidon" in our mind with "minion," as in "flunky"--perhaps to the cost of both.  Michael quotes a text example about "the myrmidons at the Fed" who could, I suppose, be fierce warrriors, but he also reports a sighting of "the myrmidons" of Rupert Murdoch who are, I suspect, just minions.

I suppose the situation is not simplified by the fact that the Greek myrmidons were (quoting Michael) "renowned for their mindless loyalty to Achilles." Word Detective caught the distinction:

"Minion," meaning an obsequious follower or sycophant (or what used to be called a "yes-man"), was not always a derogatory term. From the Old French word "mignot," meaning "dainty," came the modern French "mignon" ("darling"), which also gave us "filet mignon," an especially tender beefsteak. Translated into English as "minion," the term first meant a hanger-on at a noble's court, but gradually broadened to include nearly anyone in a servile or subordinate position. "Myrmidons" were, in Greek mythology, the Thessalian warriors who, commanded by Achilles, fought in the Trojan War. The term has since come to mean a loyal follower who unquestioningly executes orders. "Myrmidon," which carries fearful overtones of ruthlessness and blind obedience, is a harsher term than "minion," which implies simply gutless servility.

A while back I was doing a book with a my friend Michael, a partner at a white-shoe law firm.  We came up against some tiresome chore that neither of us wanted to carry out.  "Don't you have minions?"  I asked.  "Even our minions," he replied, "have minions."  If and when Michael acts as a loyal hired guy, I wonder what his adversaries would say of him.