E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
Dr. Diafoirus
in Molière’s Malade Imaginaire. A man of fossilised ideas, who, like the monk, refused to change his time - honoured mumpsmus (q.v.), for the new-fangled sumpsmus. Dr. Diafoirus used to say, what was good enough for his forefathers was good enough for their posterity, and he had no patience with the modern fads about
the rotundity of the earth, its motion round the sun, the circulation of the blood, and all such stuff.
mus (q.v.), for the new-fangled sumps
