Language

Back in the twelfth century, when this English office was established, the full title of the person who held it was the Latin phrase, custos placitorum coronae, guardian of the pleas of the crown. His duties were to record all criminal matters occurring within his province, primarily with the view of securing to the king … Read more

Possibly, back in the seventeenth century, there was in France a buxom barmaid of such portliness and jollity that her fame spread throughout the countryside. Her name, it would appear, was Jeanne, known to all as Dame Jeanne. We may further surmise that at this period some wine merchant of the region began to use … Read more

Because of its extensive occurrence throughout the globe in native form and the ease with which it can be hammered or drawn into a desired shape, copper, the metal was known and used by the human race in remote periods of time. Alloyed with tin into bronze, it was the first metallic compound, so commonly … Read more

When Zeus was about to be born, according to ancient Greek tradition, his mother was anxious to save him from the fate of all his brothers and sisters who had been swallowed by their father, Cronus, at their birth. So she gave birth to him in a cave, concealing him there, and gave the father … Read more

When Alexander the Great, ruler of Greece, defeated Darius, king of Persia, in 3 31 B.C., he became thereby the ruler of all Persia. Until his death in Babylon eight years later, it was then his ambition to unite East and West into one world empire with Babylon as its capital. To that end he … Read more

Expert horsemen have been greatly admired through all the ages. Even in the days of Homer there were some who, in their skill, could vie with those we see in our modern circus rings. Those of the greatest skill were those who, with three or four horses at full gallop, could skip nimbly from the … Read more

This is the expletive, as in “What the deuce!” It has come to be synonymous with “the devil,” and is often used euphemistically for the stronger expression. But there is every reason to believe that originally it meant the throw of two at dice, the lowest throw that one can make. In Low German that … Read more

The Hebrew “Satan,” which appears in the Old Testament as the name of the enemy of mankind, means literally “adversary.” When the Old Testament was rendered into Greek the translators looked for a word to reproduce this literal meaning. They hit upon diabolos, the noun from diaballein, which was compounded of dia, across, and ballein, … Read more

Nowadays when we apply despot to a person, we mean to imply that he, whoever he may be, uses his position or power in an oppressive or tyrannical manner. We don’t like him, or her, as the case may be, and we don’t want to be subject to his domineering authority. But this meaning is … Read more

Although the word “diaper” has been the name of a textile fabric from its earliest introduction into western Europe, the fabric was not always intended to be converted into breechcloths for babies. Quite the contrary. In the earliest Greek reference to the cloth, in the tenth century, the fabric was probably made in Byzantium and … Read more

Chaucer, when writing Troilus and Criseyde in 1374, used the language of his day in describing his hero as “in no degre secounde in dorrying don that longeth to a knyght.” He meant that Troilus was second to no one in “daring to do” that befitting to a knight. But a succeeding poet, John Lydgate … Read more

We shall probably never know anything more than his surname, and we cannot even be sure that he spelled it Doily, Doiley, Doyley, or Doyly. He lived, however, in the latter part of the seventeenth century and we are told that he was the proprietor of a linen shop in the Strand, in London. His … Read more

The Greek verb daiein, which meant “to divide,” had the special sense “to distribute destinies.” Thus daimon, which is probably connected with it, meant “a divine power.” It was nearly always used in a good sense; Socrates, for instance, spoke of his daimon, meaning very much what we should call “guardian angel.” But when the … Read more

The device must have been new about the year 1600, although no historical account of its use or appearance has yet been found. Whatever its nature we do know its purpose, because it was named for the man who used it. His name is recorded as Godfrey Derick or Derrick. His profession was that of … Read more

In the days of William the Conqueror, the French distinguished between a person living within a city and one living without. They described them as deinsein and forain respectively, the first word being an Old French corruption of the Latin de intus, from within, and the second from Latin foras, without. Both words were brought … Read more

Nowadays we speak of a person being disheveled whose clothing is disarranged or very untidy or whose hair is badly disordered and uncombed, and such a person is more than likely to be a woman. In Chaucer’s day, however, though it might apply to either man or woman, it referred more correctly only to the … Read more

When we attempt to obtain a bargain by dicker, we have no thought that a unit of ten is involved in the transaction, nor do we remotely conceive of a bundle of hides in connection with the bargaining. But such, nevertheless, is the history of the word. In European languages its various transliterations still show … Read more

During the days of the Roman Republic and of the later empire a person upon whom certain rights or privileges were conferred received an official document, signed and sealed by the consuls and senate or, later, by the emperor or such magistrate as he might designate. This document or state letter consisted of two leaves, … Read more

Among the customs coming down through the ages has been that of chanting or singing a mournful or memorial song at the funeral service for the dead. In the Roman Church, from the Middle Ages, the response to the chant that was so used was based on the eighth verse of the fifth Psalm. In … Read more

It may seem odd to combine the words cloak and clock, but they are closely related. The clock got its name from the bell that sounded its hours; the cloak from its resemblance, in the early Middle Ages, to the shape of a bell, to its form when hung over the shoulders. Both words descend … Read more

We do not now necessarily impute scholarship to the person whom we call a clerk, but such was the original significance of the word and is still assumed to be the case in many instances of its use. The term was originally a slurred pronunciation of cleric, and it designated a clergyman, one who was … Read more

When William the Conqueror sailed from Normandy with 60,000 men to bring England under his subjection, he took with him many mounted men, their horses, and their armor. These men were knights, for it was then not likely that any lesser man than a knight had the means to own a horse and its caparison. … Read more

Two accounts have been advanced to explain the origin of the word “dismal”. Both are plausible, and neither is absolutely certain; therefore the dictionaries usually content themselves by saying, “probably thus and so,” or “origin uncertain,” or the like. One account connects it with an early English phrase, “in the dismal,” meaning “in the blues, … Read more

Contrary to general impression, the fact that the earth is a sphere was accepted by Greek geographers more than two thousand years ago. Their writings and theories, however, were denounced as heresy and contrary to biblical interpretation by the Christian Church of the fourth century A.D., and thus remained sealed books for more than a … Read more

The countries of western Europe borrowed divan from Turkey, which in turn borrowed it from Arabic or Persian. In early times it signified a collection of written leaves, such as a compilation of poems or even a register of persons. It thus came to denote an account book or an office where accounts, especially accounts … Read more

Under the feudal system, one’s “capital” consisted in what was considered to be his personal property, that is, in such possessions that could be moved, whatever the form of those possessions. To an English peasant of the Middle Ages, such possessions were largely restricted to his livestock, to the oxen, cows, sheep, that the tenant … Read more

Saint Jerome, who translated the New Testament into Latin in the fourth century, sought to avoid the use of the ordinary Latin word for “love,” amor, because of the distinctly worldly associations attached to that word. It did not agree with his interpretation of agape, in the original Greek, which denotes more nearly brotherly love … Read more

Even in its Latin form, capitulum, the extended meaning among Romans was “a division of a book,” and this remained a familiar usage in the Christian Era, especially with reference to a division of one of the books of the Bible. But in the days of Saint Augustine, in the fourth century A.D., a custom … Read more

In the struggle between the Vendeans and the Republicans in France from 1793 to 1795, a band of brigands sprang up, pillaging and firing the countryside. They entered such houses as they suspected of holding treasure, demanding that the owner turn over his gold and silver to them. Their chief leader was one called Schinderhannes … Read more

Nicolas Chauvin was one of Napoleon’s soldiers, wounded seventeen times, it is said, in the cause of his emperor. He retired with a pension of two hundred francs a year, and for the rest of his life talked to all who would listen of nothing else but the glory, majesty, and generalship of Napoleon and … Read more

During the long struggle for Dutch independence from Spanish rule, in the latter part of the seventeenth century, the people of the Low Countries were greatly handicapped by a lack of adequate cavalry or, especially, by lack of protection against cavalry charges. They might, to some extent, flood their lands by opening dikes, but that … Read more

Chess is an exceedingly old game. No one knows how old, but it appears to have been played in Hindustan in remote times, and was probably taken from there to Persia where the Arabs acquired a knowledge of it. The Arabs then introduced the game into Spain in the eighth century. Thence it spread into … Read more

We borrowed the word “comrade”, three and a half centuries ago, from Spain. There, in the form camarada, it was used chiefly by soldiers to mean one who shares one’s sleeping quarters or, as we would say, a roommate. It came originally from the Latin camera, chamber, room.

Comedy among the early Greeks was for men only. In fact there were but few occasions when women were permitted to attend any of the public festivals or to appear outside of their homes. But the early comedy, or komodia, derived from komos, revel, and oide, song or ode, was a type of drunken revelry … Read more

Although it was the Portuguese who were first to colonize South Africa, no extensive development of the region took place until the Dutch East India Company founded Capetown in the latter part of the seventeenth century. Dutch settlers immediately began to have difficulties with the natives. The Hottentots, first to be encountered, were either enslaved, … Read more

When we speak of, say, “John Smith & Company,” we do not think of a body of men sitting down and partaking of bread together, but, in its original sense, that is precisely what the word company indicated. It, and its associated word, companion, though originating in France, were derived from the Latin con, together, … Read more

Back in the Middle Ages a person’s disposition or temperament was thought to be dependent upon the proportions of the four humors which were combined in his body (see HUMOR). It was this combination that was said to determine his complexion, a word formed from the Latin con, together, and plecto, to braid. Thus if … Read more

Ancient sculptors were accustomed to make their statutes somewhat more than life size, especially those which were to be mounted upon high pedestals or as architectural ornaments upon lofty buildings. Thus, when viewed from the roadway, the figures appeared in proper proportions and the fine details of the artist’s handiwork were not lost through the … Read more

When the Roman Empire was divided upon the death of Theodosius the Great, in A.D. 395, the eastern part had its court at Byzantium, a city that was later named Constantinople and is now called Istanbul. This empire, sometimes styled the Byzantine Empire, the Eastern, the East Roman, or the Greek Empire, lasted a thousand … Read more

Our spelling of the word “colonel” comes from Italian, from the “little column” or company of infantry which this officer formerly led at the head of a regiment. Such a little column was, in Italian, a colonello, or later in France, colonelle. The French word, however, became corrupted to coronel, and it was in this … Read more

From its Latin source, collatio, the basic meaning of the word “collation” is “a bringing together, a conference.” It is from the participle, collatum, of the verb confero, confer, compare, collect. Most of its present various meanings are directly derived from the Latin meanings, but there is one use of collation that has come to … Read more

According to old German folklore, every cottage had its own guardian spirit. This was a kobold, a name probably derived from kohe, cottage, and the stem of welten (English wield), to rule; thus, “the ruler of the household.” In later times this familiar spirit came to be associated with mischievous pranks, thought to be responsible … Read more

In a letter to the author, the noted tap dancer, Bill Robinson, stated his belief that he had coined the word or expression “copasetic” when a boy in Richmond, Virginia. Each morning the patrons of his little shoe-shining stand, he said, would say, “Well, Bill, how do you feel this morning?” To which he would … Read more

Although the minting of metals into coins has sometimes been done by casting, that is, by pouring molten metal into molds, the general practice has been to stamp the metal. Nowadays, as it has been for some centuries, the stamping is done by powerful presses. Formerly, it was done by hammering, with little change in … Read more

Several thousand years ago, the large island of Crete, in the eastern Mediterranean, was at the height of its glory. Explorations show that its culture, about two thousand years before Christ, must have rivaled that of Egypt at its best and was far more advanced than that attained in Greece for many centuries. But among … Read more

In the early part of the fourth century a young soldier in the army of the Eastern Roman Empire became converted to Christianity. His name was Martin. It is said that, while a soldier, young Martin passed a beggar shivering in his rags one bitterly cold day. Moved with compassion, the soldier took his own … Read more

As a part of their costume, French nobles of the late Middle Ages wore a kind of hood, not unlike the hood that is a part of the academic gown of today. It somewhat resembled the mantle, chape, worn by priests and others of that period, and for that reason the hood was called a … Read more

In a little town in Hungary, back in the fifteenth century, there lived an obscure carriage builder, destined to make his village known throughout Christendom, though his own name is unrecorded. Possibly the king, Ladislaus Posthumus, or his successor, Matthias Corvinus, for the date is uncertain, wished something more elaborate or larger than the usual … Read more

The slang reference to one’s head as a “coconut” is, of course, familiar to everyone, so familiar that we may not even wince when we hear the term contracted to “nut.” The slang use isn’t amazing, for, after all, the shape of the head does somewhat resemble that of the nut. In fact, that is … Read more

So long ago that no one can say when, it was discovered that if one were in a room shuttered so as to be quite dark, except for the light entering a small hole, say, in the shutter, an image of any object in the sunshine and directly facing that hole would be projected in … Read more

Slang can rarely be traced with any certainty, and the word “camouflage”, prior to World War I, was Parisian slang. It was the smoke blown into a person’s eyes, in fun or seriously, to blind him from observing what was going on around him. Thus, in reverse, it was a kind of smoke screen. And, … Read more

The French have an old saying, vendre un canard a moitie, literally, to half-sell a duck, for canard means “duck.” But, so the explanation goes, one cannot half-sell anything, let alone a duck flying in the sky, and when one says that he has half-sold a duck, he is, of course, trying to make a … Read more

A few years after the death of Julius Caesar, or about 40 B.C., the chieftain of an extensive region in northwest Africa, then called Mauritania, set out upon a sea journey of exploration. On clear days, about sixty miles off the coast of the southern stretches of his country, the peaks of small islands could … Read more

A humble Moravian Jesuit is honored by the name of the beautifully flowered plant camellia. He was George Joseph Kamel, who was born in 1661 and died in 1706. He took the name Camellus, a Latinized form of his name, after his entry into the religious order of his choice, and was sent on missionary … Read more

Like the basilisk, with which it was sometimes identified, the fabulous creature known as “cockatrice” was formerly supposed to be able to kill man or animal just by a glance from its deadly eyes. The actual existence of such a creature was believed even into the seventeenth century. It was then thought to be a … Read more

While the English were doing little more than talk about the colonies they hoped to establish in North America, Frenchmen were busily engaged in exploring the vast reaches that stretched along either side of the great St. Lawrence River, making friends with the tribes of Indians whom they met, observing their customs, and building up … Read more

After the death of Mahomet in 632, the question immediately arose among his loyal adherents who should serve as his representative. The leading spirit among them was Omar who, as a young man, had opposed the Prophet, but who later was to be one of his ablest supporters. Omar decided, however, that the honor should … Read more

Nowadays in America the word “calico” applies to a printed cotton cloth of plain weave, though in England it is unprinted. But originally, back in the sixteenth century, the name applied to cotton cloth of various kinds which might be stained, dyed, printed, or plain, for it then referred to any of the various cloths … Read more

Weaving in France and the Low Countries, was the chief industry of the Middle Ages. Each town prided itself upon the nature and quality of its products, vying with one another. Astute buyers, just as in parts of Persia, India, and China, were able to recognize the textiles of one community from those of another. … Read more

The abax of ancient Greece, used as a counting board, was found to meet fully the needs also of later Roman mathematicians, who changed its name to abacus, a name that we still employ. Wooden beads, or the like, strung upon wires, are used on modern boards. But in ancient times the board was divided … Read more

Outside of Scotland, the original sense of the word “cake” applied to something edible occurs chiefly in combination, as pancake, hoecake, fishcake. That is, back in the days of Chaucer (and still among the Scots), a cake was distinguished from a loaf by its appearance and the manner of its baking. The cake was flattened … Read more

We cannot do more than speculate about the word “cajole”. It was borrowed from the French cajoler in the seventeenth century, but it is not certainly known how it originated. Its French meaning, at the time, was to babble or chatter, like a jay or magpie in a cage. That may have been a slang … Read more

It may help, in recalling the military usage, to remember that, although this came originally from the Latin quadrum, a four-sided thing, it came to us from the French, in which language a cadre was a picture frame or a framework. Thus a military cadre is the framework or skeleton organization of officers and men … Read more

Pilare is the Latin for “to grow hair” and gives an adjective pilosus, meaning “hairy.” From this and their own word chat, a cat, the French formed chatepelose, “hairy cat,” which may be compared to “woolly bear,” the common name by which English children refer to the same fuzzy creature, the caterpillar. The French word, … Read more

Carpet was not always a floor covering. In fact, back in the thirteenth century, it merely designated a rather thick, wooly cloth which, in certain religious orders, was used as a garment. However, it was more commonly used as a cover for beds or as a tablecloth. It was the latter use that gave rise … Read more

In Italy, during the late Middle Ages, when jousts and tournaments and feats of archery had given way by a century or more to the more deadly and impersonal bombard and cannon, the courtiers made up a pageant to commemorate the olden days. Grouped into sets of four, each set distinguished by similar old-time costume, … Read more

A group of men, meeting in Boston in colonial Massachusetts for political purposes, called themselves the “Caucus Club.” Very little is known about this Club beyond a statement made by the historian, William Gordon. Gordon had lived in Massachusetts for sixteen years, returned to England in 1786, and then wrote a four-volume History of the … Read more

The real meaning of the word “carnival” is “the putting away of flesh (as food),” for it comes, through Italian, from the Latin carnem, flesh, and levare, to put away. Originally it pertained to the day preceding the beginning of Lent, to the last day when, for a period of forty days, one would again … Read more

Men, women, and children will stand for hours watching the antics of goats enclosed in a pasture. The goats will nibble the grass contentedly and soberly, until suddenly, as if pricked with a thorn, one or another will bound away for a short distance, perhaps prance a bit, or playfully butt another, and then with … Read more

Strangely enough, canvas and canvass sprang from the same source, the Latin word, cannabis, hemp. In fact, they were identical words. It is only within the past century or so that we have been using different spellings to indicate their different meanings. Canvas was originally made of hemp, which accounts for its name. It has … Read more

In 1170, Thomas a Becket was murdered near the altar of the Cathedral of Canterbury, of which he was archbishop. He had defied King Henry II and was slain when he refused to retract. But Becket was canonized two years later and the anniversary of his death, December 29, was set by the pope as … Read more

Christopher Columbus, when he landed in Cuba, inquired of the natives how they were named. In their dialect they said that they were Canibales, or people of Caniba. Because Columbus thought that he was in Asia, however, he took this to mean that the people were subjects of the Great Khan, or Great Can, as … Read more

The Crimean War, 1854 to 1856, with England and France fighting against Russia, might have left little impression upon the people of the United States, except for two notable features connected with it. It was the great suffering of the British soldiers in battle and during the terrific winter of 1854-55 in Crimea that enabled … Read more

The Latin source of the word “candidate”, candidatus, originally meant “clothed in white.” But the whiteness indicated by this word differed from ordinary white, for which the Romans used albus, because it meant a glistening or shining whiteness, the whiteness of newly fallen snow in brilliant sunshine; hence, spotless purity, stainlessness. Now it was the … Read more

The learned monks of the Middle Ages, and perhaps the less learned scribes who copied their writings, were just as likely to find errors in the things they wrote as we of today find in our own. But they had no erasers, and parchment was too precious to risk the removal of ink with a … Read more

Among the Muses, honored by the Greeks as goddesses of poetry and song, the ninth was the silver toned Calliope. Her name was derived from the two Greek words, kallos, beauty, and ops, voice, and she was assumed to preside over the arts of eloquence and epic poetry. About a hundred years ago, however, an … Read more

The term from which the word chancellor was derived originally applied to an individual whose duties were no more onerous than to stand at the railing of a court, back in the days of the Roman Empire, to protect the court from the press of the people. He was just an usher. His title came … Read more

The Greeks were bothered by mosquitoes, just as we are, and so were the Egyptians before them. So, taking the idea from Egypt, the Greeks draped a mosquito curtain about their couches at night to have some unmolested sleep. From konops, mosquito, the Grecian name for such a protected bed was konopeion. Romans, who found … Read more

By 1879 the effects of the land laws had driven the people of Ireland to a state of desperation. Most of the land was held by absentee landlords and, through several years of crop failures, tenants unable to pay their rents were being evicted. Home rule had long been demanded from the British Parliament. Now, … Read more

We know very little of pagan times in England. A number of early customs have survived which originated, undoubtedly, before Christianity was introduced, but in the absence of written records the sources of some of those customs cannot be determined. Thus we know that annually upon a given day in midsummer all the bones that … Read more

In Rome, the inner bark of certain trees furnished the material that was used for paper. This inner bark was called liber, a word that furnishes us the root of “library.” In England, and other Gothic countries, it was the inner, thin bark of the beech tree which the scribes used. The word for this … Read more

There came a time, in the city of Paris; when the walls of the city were no longer useful. The ramparts were broad, but when gunpowder came into military operations they were of little value for defense. So the ramparts fell into disrepair, until some engineer, seeing that they encircled the city and were broad … Read more

Now and then someone comes along who, just like the heroes of mythological times, does something that causes his name to be perpetuated. Sometimes his action is altogether innocent, with no thought that it will bring him lasting glory; sometimes his name becomes noted because the action was held to be especially ridiculous or arbitrary. … Read more

Probably the use of cotton for padding started when men wore armor during the Middle Ages. A chunk of soft cotton where a hard metal joint chafed the skin would relieve the pain. But in the sixteenth century such cotton padding began to be used for another purpose, to stuff into the linings of the … Read more

The origin of the American term “bogus” has not yet been traced. According to a letter to the editor of the Oxford English Dictionary, in the earliest appearance of the word in an Ohio newspaper, it was applied to a kind of mechanism used in making counterfeit coins. The date given to that paper was … Read more

Though not born blind, Louis Braille, born in 1809, lost his eyesight when he was only three years old. When he was nine he was left a homeless waif and was taken to the Paris Institute for the Blind. Here he developed great talent in scientific studies and in music, becoming an instructor for the … Read more

About 1750 some of the ladies in the upper circles of London society got thoroughly tired of the empty life which they led, with its constant card-playing and incessant idle chatter every evening of the week at one house or another. So, under the leadership of Lady Mary Montagu, they decided upon a different kind … Read more

In 1907 the gifted humorist, Gelett Burgess, added to his list of whimsical writings with the small book, Are You a Bromide? The book was such a success that the dictionaries were obliged, not only to add in their pages a new definition of “bromide,” but also, as a by-product, to add a new word … Read more

In the Middle Ages, a carol was not a song, but a dance, one probably performed by a ring of men and women, or boys and girls, holding hands and dancing round to the music of a lute. The poetic thought has been expressed that Stonehenge, that mystical circle of stone monoliths in southern England, … Read more