manger [ME] In Christianity the manger is a symbol for the birth of Jesus, as told in the Gospel of Luke: ‘And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.’ This word for an animal’s feeding trough goes back through Old French manger ‘to eat’ (seen also in mangetout peas [E19th] and blancmange) to Latin manducare ‘to chew’. The name of the skin disease mange [LME] has a very similar origin. The parasites that cause it give rise to intense itching, and another meaning of French manger was ‘to itch from bites’. Mangy had become an insult by the mid 16th century. See also dog.