Did you know...

[Maraxus of Keld]

... that Megrim is a real word?

from dictionary.com:

megrim \MEE-grim\, noun:
1. A migraine.
2. A fancy; a whim.
3. In the plural: lowness of spirits -- often with 'the'.

[Baron Sengir]

Interesting

[Butcher Orgg(s)]

Kinda random meanings.

[Maraxus of Keld]

Yeah, WotC was obviously using the first one.

[Butcher Orgg(s)]

Why would it NEED a meaning like that though? The word, I mean. It sounds basically the same, and... Yah.

[Maraxus of Keld]

It's probably some obscure old English word that nobody has used in hundreds of years except in reference to the card.

[Butcher Orgg(s)]

I happen to be an English geek, and I've thought of a couple possible reasons:

1) Migraine is an anamoly of megrim--that is, a spelling corruption, or something else like that. Or visa versa.
2) One entered the language from another language with the meaning of terrible headahce, then the other entered later from the same language. Megrim probably entered later and wasn't anglicized.

[Maraxus of Keld]

Aha, look what I found:

Megrim: Migraine. Usually periodic attacks of headaches on one or both sides of the head. Megrim (migraine) may be accompanied by nausea, vomiting, increased sensitivity of the eyes to light (photophobia), increased sensitivity to sound (phonophobia), dizziness, blurred vision, cognitive disturbances, and other symptoms. Some megrims (migraines) do not include headache. They may or may not be preceded by an aura.

"Megrim" and "migraine" share a meaning and an etymological origin. Latin and Greek speakers called their pain, if it was just on one side of the head, "hemicrania" or "hemikrania," from the Greek terms "hemi-" meaning "half" plus "kranion" meaning "cranium" = half-skull. The French used "migraine," a modification of "hemicrania," for the same condition. English twice borrowed "migraine" from the French. In the 14th century, the French term was modified to form "migreime," which gave rise to "megrim." Later, in the 15th century, the French "migraine" was borrowed again and its spelling stayed intact. "Megrim" and "migraine" now can be used interchangeably.

The term "megrim" also refers to vertigo or dizziness and, in the non-medical arena, to a fancy or whim or to low spirits.

Comes from www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=10868

So actually you were right with both of those possibilities.

[Butcher Orgg(s)]

*DoeS Victory DancE* Oops, sorry about that, should've warned you to shield your eyes.

[Volrath, the Fallen]

i wonder if this inspired the name of the old pre-con discard deck: Migraine

[Maraxus of Keld]

I wouldn't doubt it.