Sir Henry Morgan
- proper noun
- Sir Henry Morgan was a notorious Welsh privateer famed for his attacks on Spanish colonies in the Caribbean.
Examples
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Sir Henry Morgan became famous for his daring raids against the Spanish in the Caribbean.
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The exploits of Sir Henry Morgan inspired legends and books about pirates.
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Many stories of piracy in the West Indies mention Sir Henry Morgan by name.
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The notorious Sir Henry Morgan was known for his daring exploits.
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Did Sir Henry Morgan really sack Panama?
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Historians often discuss Sir Henry Morgan when studying the era of piracy in the 17th century.
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Many consider Sir Henry Morgan to be one of the most famous buccaneers of his time.
Surface Forms
Morphology
Sir + Henry + Morgan
This is a proper name: while a learner who knows 'Sir' will infer a titled person, the names 'Henry' and 'Morgan' carry no compositional lexical meaning that would yield 'Welsh privateer and buccaneer.' The specific historical/professional information is world knowledge rather than derivable from the constituents, so a B1 learner cannot infer the MWE's meaning from the parts alone.
Etymology
Sir Henry Morgan comes from a real Welsh sea captain who, in the 1600s, led daring attacks on Spanish towns in the Caribbean for England. His bold, pirate-like raids made his name famous in stories, so today Sir Henry Morgan is remembered as a famous 'pirate' or 'raider'.
