Karen Hill

A Draggletail is just what it appears to be, a tail, especially a skirt tail, that drags, and particularly the person thus dragging her skirt in wet and mud. And inasmuch as one so careless of appearance is likely to be careless in morals as well, the term has frequently denoted a woman of loose … Read more

Either of two fishing villages in Scotland is credited with the first source and naming of the delicacy finnan haddie, but no report has been circulated that either has claimed first honors. The delicacy, if your taste runs that way, is merely smoked haddock, haddie to the Scots, haddock usually smoked with green wood. Sir … Read more

As Mencken has so amply documented, Americans are well known for their adroitness in coining a catchy and appropriate phrase, yet they seem to have been a little slow in connecting the elasticity of caoutchouc with the craning of the overcurious. Rubber, as a contraction of India rubber, first appeared in print at least as … Read more

Early settlers in New England found that the Indians prized the quahog, a bivalve, for a twofold reason. First, the succulent meat provided many a welcome feast; finally, the dark spot on the inside of the shell was cut out and used for money, black wampum. Our word is a contraction of the Narraganset poquauhock, … Read more

“In Adam’s fall We sinned all,” ran the first stanza of the seventeenth-century New England Primer. His “fall” has since been marked on all mortals, by superstitious belief, by a projection on the fore part of the neck representing, ’tis said, a piece of the forbidden fruit of the Garden of Eden that stuck in … Read more

Although originally a corruption of hotch-potch, taking over most of the sense of the older term, the word hodgepodge became the more common form from the seventeenth century onward, probably because hotch was assumed to be an altered form of the proper name Hodge, nickname for Roger. But hotch-potch was itself a rhyming corruption of … Read more

Damp in the word firedamp has nothing to do with moisture, as we ordinarily associate it, but rather with deadening, or choking, or stifling. In fact the earliest meaning of damp when it mysteriously appeared in the language in 1480 was as a kind of noxious gas exhaled by a goat. “After this dragon,” wrote … Read more

The word syllabus is a word created by a printer’s error, but which is now firmly fixed in the language. Cicero had written, in his Epistles to the Atticans, “indices . . . quos vos Graeci . . . sittubas appellatis” (indexes, which were called sittubas by the Greeks). The key word was misprinted syllabos … Read more

One seeing the word isinglass for the first time could not be blamed if he thought it to be “is in glass.” Nor did we, comprehend that the thin, transparent, noncombustible material through which fire could be seen in the pot-bellied parlor stove, and which we called isinglass, was not isinglass at all, but sheets … Read more

It is likely that few of the so-styled literati who speak with authority are aware of the fact that a kaleyard (also spelled kailyard) is nothing more nor less than a cabbage patch or kitchen garden. The Scottish authors, Barrie, “Ian Maclaren” (John Watson), S. R. Crockett, and others, who wrote, a half century ago, … Read more

One is tempted to parody Shakespeare: “Who was Susan? what was she?” All that we have learned is that this “Susan” appeared on the American scene perhaps seventy-five years ago and probably in New England. She, or rather it, was the successor of the dining-room article which, in both England and America, had been called … Read more

Commodore Perry’s expedition of 1852-54, which played so great a part in bringing Japan into the fellowship of the world’s nations, brought back with it the Japanese word taikun, “great prince,” the descriptive title of the army’s commander-in-chief, whose military title was shogun. Upon being taken into American English, the word was respelled phonetically, becoming … Read more

Perhaps it’s too obvious. The word milksop means: just an infant, or one of infant-like caliber, who sops up milk; hence, one unfit by temperament for conflict. But of interest is the fact that this term for one lacking in spirit is very old in our language. It was used, not only by Chaucer, but … Read more

Political campaigns have rarely been entirely free of invective and diatribe regarding the candidates for office, and the presidential campaign of 1844 was no exception. Widespread publicity was given by those opposing the election of James Polk to a purported book by a mythical Baron von Roorback (sometimes Roorbach), in which certain unsavory practices involving … Read more

Without by-your-leave or even the courtesy of an attempt to observe the original pronunciation, we “borrowed” the phrase aide-de-camp from the French. Literally it means “an assistant of the field”. Hence, one upon whom a general officer relies, on the field of battle, to receive and transmit orders. However, the duties of such a confidential … Read more

The New Orleans Times-Picayune Magazine of June 19, 1949, as quoted by Dictionary of Americanisms, reported a statement to the effect that there had been an estimated “4000 actual cases in which the application of the Mad Stone brought about instant relief and final cure of snake bites, black widow spider stings, bee stings, and … Read more

The Hellbender, a peculiarly repulsive amphibian looks not unlike an uncouth young crocodile, and we can well imagine that the first white men to run across it in the valley of the Allegheny thought it a salamander direct from hell. Why the bender part of the name is not certain, but it may be that … Read more

Whortleberry is a general name for the fruit (or the plant) of a number of the members of the genus Vaccinium, in particular V. myrtillus. An earlier name for the fruit was hurtleberry, from which the present form was derived, and the shortened forms whort and hurt are also known. There have been several suggestions … Read more

Actually these small, hollow, globular, stony balls, varying in size from a golf ball to a man’s head, were named eaglestones by the Greeks, aetites, which, translated, is “eaglestone.” According to Pliny, that is, this early name arose from a belief that unless the eagle were able to transport one of these stones into its … Read more

Literally, of course, a streetwalker is merely a pedestrian, anyone who is out for a walk either in or along a street. Even though this sense of the word is known and has been used for many years, a still older use is the one applied to a woman of easy virtue, and again the … Read more

Those who have read Robin Hood and other adventure tales of the same period will certainly recall the quarterstaff, a ubiquitous weapon of the period. One theory is that it got its name from its having been constructed by quartering the bole of a young tree lengthwise, yielding a quartered staff. It seems more generally … Read more

If there ever was an Andrew whose jokes and antics were so remarkable that all other men of like disposition would subsequently be known by his name, it’s a doggone shame that the history books overlooked him. An attempt was made by Thomas Hearne in 1735 to tie the first Merry Andrew down, but it … Read more

A sack coat is not (or at least, is hardly ever) made of sackcloth, but, because it is a loosely fitting garment, hanging straight from the shoulders, is so-called simply because it gives the impression of having been fashioned from a sack. Sackcloth is just that, a coarsely woven cloth from which sacks are made.

In Shakespeare’s youth the mooncalf was a figment of the imagination, a monster of some horrendous sort conjured up by moonlight in the eye of a frightened person too scared to see straight. But by the time Shakespeare wrote The Tempest (1613), he or others took it to be an actual being, a congenital monstrosity … Read more

One gads who merely roams here and there idly or as if in meditation, but without special destination. But the gadabout, though he may have no special objective, does have a definite purpose in mind, and his roaming is rarely meditative. He seeks news. And the news he wants is that which will satisfy curiosity … Read more

Although two-by-threes and even two-by-twos are known and employed for certain purposes, the two-by-four is the smallest size of standard dimension lumber used today in the construction of frame buildings. The name refers to the nominal size, in inches, of the thickness and width, respectively, of the piece, although the actual size of the standard, … Read more

The fictitious character Milquetoast, in full, Caspar Milquetoast, was created by the cartoonist H. T. Webster. The series, continued at intervals through the 1930’s and 1940’s, depicted episodes in the life of “The Timid Soul,” episodes of harrowing nature to a non-assertive, timorous man. Thus the modern definition of the word Milquetoast is a person … Read more

You might not think it to be so, but in its original form oakum was “off-combing.” It referred to the hard, coarse strands of retted flax which were combed out before spinning, the tow. The Old English word was acumba, considerably modified in spelling down through the years. This tow, or “hards” as also called, … Read more

The Polecat is a cat, sometimes called “pussy,” that is fond of poles, not, however, the kind stuck in the ground. This pole, back in the fourteenth century, was a French word which, in modern French, is spelled poule. It means a chicken. For the polecat is a chicken thief, just as is its American … Read more

The word tabernacle first entered our language in the mid-thirteenth century as applied to the curtained tent that, in the Old Testament, contained the Ark of the Covenant and other sacred items. Its use in the broader sense of “a portable, temporary dwelling, such as a tent” began about a century later, as so used … Read more

Back in 1856, B. H. Hall, in College Words and Customs, attributed the name callithump to a noisemaking band composed of Yale College students. Maybe he was right, but if so, the callithumpians, as members of any similar band were known, had also spread out by 1830 from New Haven to New York. At least … Read more

By comparison, keelhauling, in the modern navy, constitutes a mild punishment. It actually amounts to nothing more castigating than a severe tongue-lashing. Not so in former days. The literal procedure was so severe a punishment that many a sailor failed to survive. It is said that the device was first copied by the Dutch in … Read more

Babbitt in this case has no relation whatsoever to the chief character in Sinclair Lewis’s satire of that title. This is the name of a soft, whitish alloy used to reduce friction in machine bearings and was that of its American inventor, Isaac Babbitt (1799-1862), who first produced it at Taunton, Massachusetts, in 1834. The … Read more

One of the greatest advances in the art of printing was the invention of movable type, for this permitted the printer to be free of the time-consuming process of having his plates individually engraved by hand. Yet movable type, too, had disadvantages, for it had to be carefully adjusted for even depth of impression and, … Read more

The word aftermath means consequences; especially, in current general use, ill consequences. Also, which indicates the origin of the term, a second crop of hay after one crop has already been cut. Math, a term no longer in use, meant “a mowing” in olden days, or the produce of a mowing; hay, that is. Thus … Read more

Used more or less interchangeably with the singular form. It is generally conceded that the original sense of the word sweepstakes was “winner take all,” that is, that the person winning the race or game “swept” all the “stakes” into his own pocket. Later the winnings did not accrue entirely to a single winner, but … Read more

Whether part of a harness, part of the rigging of a ship, or a gambling term, the name martingale is supposed to be connected, in some peculiar manner, with a type of stinginess characteristic of the inhabitants of the town of Martigues in Provence, France. At least such is the deduction that one draws from … Read more

Included merely to show that it wasn’t overlooked, but there is little of a positive nature to explain the origin of the word marchpane, despite much discussion. Similar forms appear in various of the languages of Europe, apparently all derived from Italian marzipani. Some say that that was derived from the name of a Venetian … Read more

A Periwig, or false hair, called phenake by the Greeks and galerus in Rome, was worn by the ancients. But, though imitated in the Middle Ages, especially in the early sixteenth century, attendants at the courts of Louis XIV of France and of Charles II of England brought the wearing of false hair into fashion. … Read more

The Gaelic is bean sidhe, “female fairy,” which, believe it or not, is transcribed phonetically as banshee in English. The Standard Dictionary of Folklore (1949) describes her as, usually, a beautiful woman, though sometimes a hag, whose appearance, according to Irish folklore, foretells the death of someone close to one’s family.

Even a woman may be a dragoman, for the terminal syllable is not an English word, even though we do, through long custom, make its plural -men, rather than -mans, as we should. We borrowed the term from the French, who had borrowed in turn from Spain, and there it had come, through the Moors, … Read more

The Icelandic language has contributed relatively little to English, which has drawn so heavily on the various languages of the world for its present make-up, but there seems good reason to believe that ramshackle, in its present sense of “tumbledown,” or “on the verge of falling to pieces,” is derived from the Icelandic ramskakkr. Remember … Read more

Literally, “valley, or dale, of the Aire,” a river in the southern part of Yorkshire, England, joining the Ouse and emptying into the Humber. The name Airedale is applied specifically to a breed of terrier originating in this valley, wire-haired, with crown, back, and sides black, and face, throat, and limbs tan. The dog, usually … Read more

All names apply to the same natural phenomenon, which was apparently of quite frequent occurrence at one time, but is now infrequent. From printed records it would seem that the Latin term, appearing in the sixteenth century, was the earliest in English use, but it is more likely that ignis fatuus, “foolish fire,” was some … Read more

Literally, a congregation or assembly, the word Synagogue has also come to mean the place of assembly, specifically the meeting place for Jewish worship. The word comes to us through the Late Latin synagoga from the Greek synagoge, “assembly,” from synagein, “to bring together,” a compound of syn, “together,” with agein, “to lead, bring.” The … Read more

As all cool cats know, ragtime was precursor of jazz and is heavily syncopated, but with a strong beat. To its listeners in the late nineteenth century, the timing was most certainly ragged, compared to the tunes with which they were more familiar. What more logical than that this music of “ragged time” should become … Read more

Doughboy, gob, and leatherneck, as familiar designations of members of the Army, Navy, and Marine corps, respectively, of the United States, have long been subject to speculation, and still are. No one knows; the origins remain inscrutable. As to leatherneck, H. L. Mencken said at one time, “It obviously refers to the sunburn suffered by … Read more

Every generation has them, people who lose their tempers quickly, people who make more noise than they do sense, and the Romans had a name for them. The Greeks did, too, but right now it’s the Romans who concern us. The Latin term meaning “to rave, to rage” is rabo, and the petty advocate who … Read more

If it were not for the needs of crossword puzzlers, ait is rarely used word that might peacefully fade away from American dictionaries. In England, where it is still applied occasionally as a term of ancient lineage for a small island, especially in the Thames river, the spelling may be ait, eyot, or eyet, according … Read more

The etymology of the word stripling is uncertain. Most authorities suggest that it is derived from the noun strip, “a narrow piece of substantially even width,” plus the suffix -ling, “one having some specified attribute.” This derivation is based on the use of stripling as “a youth, not yet having filled out in manhood, hence, … Read more

A blue-sky law is any law enacted for the protection of suckers who, without some such safeguard, might part with cash for the purchase of hot air, scenery, or even the blue sky from unscrupulous promoters. The first of the laws that acquired the term was enacted in Kansas in 1912. Our “blue sky” in … Read more

And of all the ways in which we who speak English have altered words of other languages the word kickshaw is literally something. Yes, that is what it meant, “something.” It began as the French plural, quelque chores, which, especially when used in cookery, and, generally, with a shrug of the shoulders, indicated, “just something … Read more

It is often stated as positive fact that the phrase hocus-pocus is a conjuror’s formula. This indication of sham or trickery owed its origin to a mocking corruption of the first three Latin words of the Consecration in the Catholic Mass, Hoc est corpus meum (This is my body). There is no proof of that. … Read more

If the first syllable of numskull were spelled numb, as it once was, the sense and source would be clearly recognized. Numb in the skull, with the brain benumbed, dulled. Actually, however, if we were to follow numb back through the centuries we would find that it should be spelled num after all. Anciently, our … Read more

My, but how the learned scholars of the 1750’s did rave and rant against this neologism. After the coinage of the word humbug, out of whole cloth, presumably, it must have sprung into immediate popular favor. But here is what was said of it by one writer, probably Thomas Warton, in The Student: “I will … Read more

The casual student of etymology may well be intrigued by various compound words starting in quarter, as there seems a good likelihood that certain of these may have odd and unusual beginnings. But quarterback, for instance, is found to be, in football, the back whose position is one-quarter of the way between the line and … Read more

Although the initials O.K. are now known and used around the world and have been in common American usage for a hundred years, the source was a matter of great disputation through most of that period. Some attributed it to illiteracy displayed by Andrew Jackson, who, they said, wrote O.K. as the initials of “Oll … Read more

The etymology of sabotage is clear, it is derived from the French sabot, “a wooden shoe,” which, in turn, has been traced to the Spanish zapato, “a shoe,” probably from the Biscayan zapatu, “to tread.” The origin of the present-day meaning of sabotage, though, is less clear. It has been suggested that it may have … Read more

Almost any kind of small round flower the petals of which present a jagged appearance goes by the name bachelor’s button. Why? Because garments anciently worn were held by buttons of cloth which, in the case of helpless bachelors, became frayed around the edges.

One can’t be certain about this, but the prevailing opinion among the word-delvers is that the word akimbo arose from a corrupted pronunciation of the medieval phrase in kene bowe, meaning “in a sharp bend,” just as is the shape of one’s arm when the hand rests on the hip, the present usual sense of … Read more

England knows the firecracker, which is a jubilant explosive, as merely a cracker, though if part of a pyrotechnic display, such as a set piece, it is there, as here, a firework. Both terms have been in use from the sixteenth century. But with us, especially with a child, a cracker is first of all … Read more

Through the fact that some of the practices of certain religious devotees, especially of India, appear to be quite fictitious, clever trickery, the word fakir is sometimes considered to be merely another spelling of faker. It isn’t; it’s an Arabic term and, strictly speaking, it should be applied only to those followers of Mohammed who, … Read more

Some of the dictionaries say, “Source unknown.” We’ll agree with that as to the dory element, but, considering that the common meaning of the American term hunky-dory is “Quite satisfactory; all safe and secure,” the hunky element is logically explainable. Though not recorded until a hundred years ago, to be “all hunk” was probably as … Read more

He was only fifty when he died, in 1736, and only twenty-eight when he introduced the mercury-filled thermometer and devised the scale for measuring temperature still called by his name, Gabriel Daniel Fahrenheit, a German citizen, born in Danzig. His father was a merchant, and the son had been trained to follow that pursuit, but, … Read more

Ladybug is the usual American name; ladybird is the usual name in England. So named, not, as childish fancy may have assumed, because these beneficial insects are all female, but in honor of “Our Lady,” the Virgin Mary.

In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries the petticoat was a garment that was actually, as the name indicates, a “little coat.” At first it was a man’s coat, worn under his armor as a protection against chafing. Later he wore it as an undergarment beneath his doublet, as a waistcoat or sort of vest. And … Read more

Nowadays the name “Jack in the box” is usually applied to a toy, a box from which a frightening figure, such as a dragon, serpent, clown, or the like, springs out when the fastening of the lid is released. The toy, however, is a very modest proxy for the original box of the sixteenth century, … Read more

We must thank Oliver Goldsmith for developing the word cantankerous from an older source. In She Stoops to Conquer, he proclaims, “There’s not a more bitter cantanckerous road in all christendom,” meaning that the road would try one’s soul, is perverse, contrary, ill natured. Apparently Goldsmith dug up a word of similar meaning, long since … Read more

Neither of the living nor yet of the dead, a vampire is a reactivated corpse doomed, not to peaceful rest in its tomb, but to spend each night in search of a living victim of whose blood to drink. Belief in vampires is virtually world-wide, but the Slavic countries and their neighbors are the center … Read more

The Sackbut is a musical instrument, a precursor of the trombone in that it contained a hairpin-shaped bent tube which was slid in and out to vary the tone, may have derived its name from the Old Norman French saqueboute, a lance with a curved hook at the end, which was used to pull riders … Read more

The terms “Gaffer” and “Gammer” did not break into print before the latter end of the sixteenth century, but both must have been in common dialectal speech many long years earlier. And, of course, dispute reigns as to what were the original words. As now used, almost wholly only in rural England, they are usually … Read more

The word pantywaist is an American appellation for an effeminate young man is not much more than thirty years old. The idea, however, takes us back to about 1890. Small American children, then, and some perhaps not so small, were encased in a sleeveless undervest, bedecked with buttons at the waistline, to which their panties … Read more

Bits of our language have been picked up from almost every people with whom our English forebears came in contact. Thus, in remote times, when Norse vikings made settlements along the coasts of England, the Norse gala, “to sing,” entered the native speech. Thus nahtigala, the early name of the bird Nightingale, merely meant “night … Read more

Although the early settlers on our New England shores knew this plentiful fish by the name alewife (New Plymouth Laws, 1633), so many other pronunciations were also used in the early years that to this day there is no certainty of its source. Some think that an Indian name was adopted which sounded something like … Read more

The small bird known as the Nuthatch, of several varieties, got its name from certain of its feeding habits. Although it eats a profusion of insects, it is especially notable as an eater of acorns and the nuts found in pine cones, the shells of which it breaks with its sharp beak. Our ancient forebears … Read more

Hum, yes, because that which is humdrum has the monotony of the humming of a bee or other insect. But drum, well, did this added syllable, back in the sixteenth century, also convey the monotone of a drumbeat? It is doubtful, though such could have been the case. But it is more likely that drum … Read more

Whatever the present application, the original term hallmark has designated the official stamp or mark of the Goldsmith’s Company of London or other assay office applied to gold and silver articles to indicate their purity. Such stamping was introduced by order of Edward I in the year 1300, and there have been but few changes … Read more

The word falderal had no basic meaning; originally used just as a refrain in songs, probably first in Scotland about three hundred years ago. But just because it was so often employed as a meaningless termination to silly little songs it did eventually come to be employed for a flimsy trifle, an empty bit of … Read more

Sorry, but there’s not much we can do with the word nincompoop. It was coined sometime in the last half of the seventeenth century, though variously spelled nicompoop, nickumpoop, nincumpoop, but no source has been established. Dr. Samuel Johnson, in his dictionary of 1755, believed it to have been a corruption of the Latin phrase, … Read more

Lifted directly from the French over three hundred years ago, table d’hôte literally means “the host’s table.” The original sense was that of a common table set for the guests at a hotel or other eating place, but from this has come the more usual meaning today, which is the complete meal served at a … Read more

No, no one ever thought the beast known as the camelopard was a cross between the camel and the leopard, but the Greeks of old gave it the namekamelopardalis, simply because its body somewhat resembled that of the camel and its spots were like those of the pard or leopard. We call the animal by … Read more

Although derived from the Anglo-Saxon streawberige, the word strawberry is curious in that its parallel is not found in other Teutonic languages. A synonymous Anglo-Saxon word was eorthberge (earthberry), which failed to live in English, but is related to the German Erdbeere of the same meaning. Both straw and berry, though, have living relatives in … Read more

Related forms of the word yesterday are to be found throughout the entire group of the Teutonic languages, and, indeed, more distant relatives are known in many of the languages of the large Indo-European family of which the Teutonic and Romance are two important branches. In English, the word goes back to the Anglo-Saxon geostrandæg … Read more

Many years ago some enterprising naval architect, perhaps tired of the squared-off look of the vessels of his day, or perhaps to increase the deck area of his ship, designed a craft with bow and stern at sharp angles fore and aft of the keel, literally reaching out over the water. To our forefathers, a … Read more

It’s the genius of any language, we suppose, to alter an adoption from another language into familiar syllables. It was the famous grapes of Shiraz in Iran, or rather, the wine from those grapes, to which we owe the word carboy. The wine was put up in large bottles of green or blue glass, which, … Read more

Shortly after the War Between the States, in the North, the Civil War, hordes of gentry, mostly poor whites, piled their paltry belongings into the traveling bag of the period, its sides made of carpet, and moved South. Their intent was to pick up what they could, financially, socially, and politically, with the aid of … Read more

Greatly remembered, not so much by what she lovingly tried to do, but by what she wore while trying. She was unable, you remember, “to get her poor dog a bone,” because the cupboard was bare. But she was not. At least, according to the crude illustrations adorning the pages of Mother Goose’s Melodies of … Read more

Heaven grant that the garment known as the farthingale doesn’t come into style again, but it may, of course, though it can have nothing to recommend it. It was a kind of hooped skirt, extending from hips to feet, and as nearly a perfect cylinder as skill could make it, the top covered by flounces. … Read more

Yes, hamlet does mean “a little ham,” but the ham therein has nothing to do with any member of the Sus, or hog, family. It had originally, that is, to do with members of Homo sapiens, those who, in the times of Alfred the Great, lived in a small collection of cottages, a small village, … Read more

The term haberdasher is so old and so beguiling in appearance that there really should be a good story behind it. We have record of its continuous use through more than six hundred years, back to the early fourteenth century. John Minsheu, a dictionary compiler of around 1617, derives it from the German, Hab’ Ihr … Read more