Brillig
The word
brillig was coined by
Lewis Carroll in his
poem Jabberwocky from
Through the Looking-Glass. According to 'Misch-Masch' a handwritten
magazine produced by
Lewis Carroll in
1855 for his family and friends, "bryllyg is 'the time of broiling dinner, i.e. the close of the afternoon." It is derived from the verb to BRYL or BROIL. Note that in 'Misch-Masch' bryllyg is spelt with two y’s rather than the two i's that were used later in the published version of
Looking-glass.
Humpty Dumpty (in chapter 6 of Through the Looking-Glass) agrees with the definition given by Carroll in 'Misch-Masch' when he states " 'Brillig' means four o'clock in the afternoon—the time when you begin broiling things for dinner."