Language

The first record of a related word is found in a book, The discouerie of witchcraft, by Reginald Scot, printed in 1584, where the author speaks of a ventriloqua (feminine of ventriloquus, “a ventriloquist”), and of her “practising hir diabolicall witchcraft and ventriloquie.” It is not surprising that men of that time thought of witchcraft … Read more

A dash more bald than others of its kind? No, the fact is that no one knows for a certainty how the word “balderdash” originated. When, in the late sixteenth century, it first appeared in print it referred apparently to a light frothy or bubbly liquid, “barber’s balderdash” was the term used. Not long after, … Read more

No one now knows the source of the word “catawampus”. It showed up in print shortly after 1840 and, most likely, had already been American slang for ten or fifteen years before that. With humorous reference to General Zachary Taylor at the Battle of Buena Vista in the Mexican War, the New York Herald carried … Read more

Originally, apparently, one of the retinue attached to an estate, for the word “villain” stems from the Latin villanus, from villa, “a country house,” and this meaning was largely retained in an alternate spelling of the English word, villein. But, progressing from the general sense of “a peasant,” in which sense the word dates back … Read more

In its original sense in English, sad had the meaning “fully satisfied, sated.” From this sense it underwent alteration, as so many English words do, and came to have the meaning of “solid, heavy, dense.” It is in this sense that it is used in the sadiron, which is a heavy, solid flatiron used for … Read more

Three days (Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday) of fasting observed quarterly in the Roman Catholic and Anglican churches. Though the first is but a week after Ash Wednesday, the term ember has no relationship to the ashes of a fire. It is, in fact, only a corruption of the Old English word ymbrene, meaning “quarterly,” or … Read more

When we were very young, we would apply this dressing to our rather scuffed shoes, by natural logic the inference was that the oil gave one a neat foot, hence the name. But not so. Though now so rare as to be called obsolete, neat was formerly a general term for cattle, more especially for … Read more

Six hundred, even four hundred years ago, the bird we know as the peacock was just called a po, though by the latter time pokok and pocock had begun to come into favor. The female was the pohenne or pohen. But the o, sounded as in “cost,” gave rise also to the spelling paa. Carelessness … Read more

Although the word “umpire” has been in the language since the late fourteenth or early fifteenth century, it is a variant of a still older word, noumpere, which entered the language in the mid-fourteenth century but lasted less than a hundred years. For a noumpere became altered to an oumpere, which then underwent many changes … Read more

You may run across the word “fearnought” in your reading of tales of the sea especially. That is, it is the name of a heavy woolen cloth, or the outer clothing made from it, that is specially adapted for use by sailors aboard ship in inclement weather. Those wearing it “fear nought” from the elements. … Read more

Completely unrelated to talesman (which see), despite all similarities of spelling, the word “talisman” comes to us through the Romance languages from the Arabic tilsam, “a magic charm.” The earlier derivation is from the Greek telesma of the same meaning, but having had the former meaning of “a religious rite,” and coming from telein, to … Read more

There is some uncertainty about the origin of yard. It is known to be descended from the Anglo-Saxon gierd of which there are related forms in the Teutonic languages generally, and it has been suggested that the ultimate origin may be either the Latin hasta, “spear,” or the Russian zherd’, “a thin pole.” Either, though, … Read more

The name of the children’s game Jackstone comes from its similarity to the older name, chackstone, which in its turn came from chuck-stone, in Scotland called chuckiestone. Nowadays, in America at least, the game is played with five or six six-pointed (or knobbed) small iron pieces which are tossed or chucked into the air by … Read more

Certainty is lacking of the source of this American name, known since the early eighteenth century. Obviously jack was not employed in the sense of smallness, for the true jackknife is always large. This has given rise to the surmise that the American name is a corruption and contraction of the Scottish (later also English) … Read more

“The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night,” said the Hebrew psalmist. And from early Greek and Roman times, Selene of the Greeks and Luna of the Romans, goddesses of the moon, were also believed to be capable of affecting the brains of mortals. Those, especially, who slept with head … Read more

Nothing to do with “fate”; the expression is Italian for “the fairy Morgana,” and you’ll see it in French as Morgan le Fay. By English legend she was the fairy who reported to King Arthur, her brother, the love affair between his wife, Guinevere and the knight Lancelot. But the fairy appears in many medieval … Read more

This is recorded merely for the benefit of those who don’t know one kind of hammer from another. But this one is used chiefly by metalworkers. It is one in which the side opposite the face or flat surface of the hammer or sledge is rounded or ball-shaped. Peen, that is, also sometimes spelled pane, … Read more

According to ancient Greek myth, the people dwelling in a certain region in northern Africa derived particular enjoyment from the fruit of a tree which the Greeks called lotus. The fruit itself was pleasant to the palate, but a wine made from it was especially enjoyable. Those who partook of it forgot all cares and … Read more

One of the words describing a process or product that was named after the inventor (like daguerreotype and pasteurize), the talbotype is named after W. H. F. Talbot, an English inventor, who, in 1841, patented his discovery of making photographic images directly upon sensitized paper. Talbot himself called his process calotype (from the Greek kalos, … Read more

“Litterbug” is a term coined by an unknown person, probably about 1945, and now designating one who strews litter wherever he goes. The term was descried in 1950 on the back of a truck by Mrs. Henry W. Land, a member of the Mount Dora, Florida, Lakes and Hills Garden Club, and it was suggested … Read more

In our own Southern states this is now a misnomer. In Spain, back in the sixteenth century, spelled gelosia, and later in France as jalousie, both indicating “jealousy,” the term jalousie denoted a kind of slatted blind somewhat similar to the modern Venetian blind. It was then made of wood, however, and the immovable slats … Read more

It was formerly the practice (and may still be in some places) to make up a trial jury in whole or in part of men selected from among the bystanders in the court. Men of law, like doctors, like to express things in Latin when possible, and people drawn on to fill a jury in … Read more

The term Paris green, which dates at least to the 1870’s, seems to be of American origin, but has spread to Europe by this time. Today, it refers to the compound copper aceto-arsenite, which has had extensive use both as an insecticide and as a pigment, and which is better known in Europe as Schweinfurt … Read more

Though we might honestly say that a landlubber is one who “lubs de land,” we would rightly be called a punster, rather than a tracer of origins. The fact is that a lubber, even six hundred years ago, was a clumsy lout, one who didn’t know B from a bull’s foot. And so he was … Read more

The poet Keats, who knew these delicate pastries back in 1820, called them lady’s-fingers. Both of these were fanciful names, however, merely indicative of size. As applied to the modern bakery-made American product the name is distinctly inappropriate. The name finger biscuit, also in early use, would be more fitting: the finger could be that … Read more

Taken directly from the French vinaigrette, “vinegar sauce,” a condiment prepared with vinegar, from vinaigre, “vinegar.” The word vinaigrette, though, became transferred to the container rather than to the sauce, and to similar containers, finally being settled on a container of smelling salts.

Though the word “amateur” was derived from Latin amator, “a lover,” the French gave it a slight alteration in sense, which we have adopted, “a lover or devotee of an art, pastime, sport, or the like.” And, nowadays, we have even extended the sense to include one who is a dabbler or tyro, one without … Read more

Entered merely not to skip a curious word, though little can be said about it. Two hundred years ago the name “catboat” was applied to vessels of four to six hundred tons, built according to Norwegian design and used in the British coal trade, but no reason has been found for the designation and none … Read more

Perhaps the term “huggermugger” should be passed over in silence, for its source is certainly as concealed and secret as is meant by huggermugger itself. Undoubtedly the rhyming term in one or another of its several variations, hoker-moker, hocker-mocker, hucker-mucker, or even hudder-mudder, had long been in colloquial use before the sixteenth century, but it … Read more

The “evil,” scrofula, was not possessed by a king, but, because the kings of France and those of England were all anointed with consecrated oil, it was formerly a popular belief that, merely by a touch, “the king’s touch”, a person afflicted with scrofula would be cured. In France, the power of so healing le … Read more

Correctly, we should always spell “Javelle water” Javel water, and even more properly call it eau de Javel, as the encyclopedias generally record it and as it appears in French. The chlorinated bleaching agent known by the name was first produced by the Javel works near Paris in 1792.

As any Frenchman knows, “ambergris” is a misspelling of ambre gris, meaning “gray amber,” and is used to distinguish the soft, animal secretion of the sperm whale, gray in color, from the hard, fossilized resin, ambre jaune, “yellow amber.” But at one time, because both of these were found along coasts of the sea, the … Read more

Originally, about three hundred years ago, those using the metaphor hand-in-glove worded it hand and glove, that is, being on terms of intimate relationship comparable to that of one’s hand and the glove for it. But whether through elision, hand ‘n’ glove, or through deliberate intent to indicate even closer intimacy, a snuggling intimacy as … Read more

True, Harold, Dach does mean “roof” auf Deutsch, but what, then, will you do with shund? It’s meaningless. No, the first element is not Dach, but Dachs, and the meaning of that is “badger.” This low-built hound (Hund), in other words, was especially used in Germany for hunting badgers, during the years long gone by … Read more

The original of the word “catchpole”, back in the twelfth century, was the surname of mixed language, cassa pullum, “the fowl catcher,” denoting a legitimate occupation, such as “cowboy” does today. But the fowls so caught were seized for the payment of taxes. Hence, in time the catchpole or catchpoll became a minor court officer, … Read more

Identical in sound though it may be with the words “cast a net,” the word “castanet” comes through Spanish castaneta from Latin castanea, “a chestnut,” probably from resemblance in form, faint though it may be. The instrument, used as an accompaniment to dancing, was introduced to Spain by the Moors, but is actually a variation … Read more

Robert Burns, the national poet of Scotland, wrote of the wild ride of Tam o’Shanter (Tom of Shanter), when Tam rode through a furious storm “whiles holding fast his gude blue bonnet.” Tam’s bonnet, presumably, was the wide floppy hat favored by the Scottish Lowlanders and faintly resembling a beret. Just why is not clear, … Read more

It is too often true that men of infamy tend to live in history longer than do men of good will, and so it is with Comte Donatien Alphonse Francois de Sade, usually called the Marquis de Sade. The Comte was a French soldier who lived from 1740 to 1814, but he is better known … Read more

The eighteenth-century jurist, Sir William Blackstone, really told the whole story: “Eaves-droppers, or such as listen under walls or windows or the eaves of a house to hearken after discourse, and thereupon to frame slanderous and mischievous tales, are a common nuisance, and presentable,” he adds, “at the court leet.” Regrettably, however, the old “court … Read more

It was previously stated that, “The source of the name (kangaroo court) is mysterious, for it is American, not Australian.” In fact, the term may not have originated in Australia. Efforts were, at first, wholly fruitless, seeming to substantiate the belief expressed earlier. Ultimately, however, the query was published in the Melbourne Age (April 22, … Read more

The only excuse for the present formation of the word “andiron” is that the object itself is usually, though not always, composed of iron. The name of this device for supporting wood in an open fireplace came into the language from Norman French and, properly, we should still be calling it andier or the equivalent … Read more

The name of this extremely poisonous snake, whose bite is most likely to be fatal, actually indicates the shape of the headier, “head” or “iron,” de lance, “of the lance”; i.e., lance head. But it might also indicate the speed with which the serpent strikes or the fact that it springs at its victim like … Read more

Descriptive of any novelty, whether true or flimflam, that might literally “catch a penny.” Its first use, two hundred years back, was of any printed matter that might conceivably inveigle a purchaser to the investment of a penny.

Etymologically speaking, there seems to be little doubt that tambourine, which comes to us from the French, is the diminutive of tambour, “a drum.” The actual instrument, as we know it, though, is that which was known in France as tambour de Basque, because of its popularity in Biscay. Tambour is apparently a variant spelling … Read more

We are so accustomed to the thought of a ham as consisting of that part of the upper leg which includes thigh and buttock as to forget entirely that this is, literally, an extended meaning. Originally the ham of a man or beast was only that part of the leg directly back of the knee. … Read more

Jeremiah, in the King James Version of the Bible, says: “Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there?” But, so says the Oxford English Dictionary, “The term ‘balm of Gilead’ is modern, and . . . originated in the assumption that this is the substance mentioned in the Bible as found in … Read more

Inasmuch as, nowadays, even American kindergartners appear in “cap and gown” upon the eve of stepping into the first grade, to say nothing of youngsters about to take the great step of entering high school, it may be well to know what the mortarboard they wear as a cap originally indicated and why it was … Read more

Frederick Marryat, in Poor Jack (1840), thought the spelling should be P-jacket: “A short P-jacket (so called from the abbreviation of pilot’s jacket),” he wrote, “reached down to just above his knees.” But Marryat was wrong. The original first element was pee, back in the fifteenth century, taken from Dutch pi j, and that was … Read more

In England, perhaps because all Irishmen (each known as “Paddy”) have no love for the English, a paddywhack generally denotes a towering rage or, sometimes, the kind of thrashing that is most likely to accompany such a rage, a real, genuine, downright whacking. But in America, where “Pat” or “Paddy” may be less given to … Read more

“Annus mirabilis” literally means a wonderful year. It now means any year which the speaker regards as especially outstanding, notable. But, in England particularly, the term refers to the year 1666, the year that marked two notable events: a victory over the Dutch fleet and, in September, the great London fire in which a large … Read more

According to Lorenzo D. Turner, in the dialect of the Negroes living on the islands lying off the coast of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, a dialect called Gullah, juke is associated with anything connected with a place of ill repute; a juke house (sometimes just a juke) is a disorderly house. From his researches … Read more

Handkerchief is an incongruous word, when you come to analyze it. The chief is an early misspelling of Old French chef, “head,” and ker is a corrupt contraction of Old French covrir, “cover.” Thus kerchief, back in Chaucer’s time, was a square of cloth used as a head covering, though, approaching the Norman French, he … Read more

The name of the American insect known as the Katydid is customarily said to be due to the repetitious sound produced by it, as if, over and over again, it were saying Katie did! It does our heart good to be able to record that others also have not detected this flat statement in the … Read more

In the United States, we refer to “a slice of bacon”; our British cousins more commonly would order “a rasher of bacon,” and expect to receive the same portion implied by our term, a single thin slice. Some have suggested that the rasher is so-called because, being thin, it may be cooked rashly (“quickly”). Others … Read more

St. Anthony, “The Great” (A.D. 251?-356?), was an Egyptian ascetic, and one of the pillars of the early Christian Church. During his life he was reportedly tempted sorely by the devil, who took many forms, including that of a pig. It was through this temptation that St. Anthony became the patron of pigs, which, in … Read more

Our present adjectival use of the word tantamount, which dates to the mid-seventeenth century, was preceded by a noun use, of slightly greater age, and a verb use some 350 years older, both now obsolete. It is to the verb use that originated in the tongue known as Anglo-French that we must look for the … Read more

A caterwaul is just the waul or alluring musical call (or howl), musical, presumably, to the female, that is, of a courting tomcat. Chaucer has the Wife of Bath say, in the Prologue: “Thow saist thus that 1 was lik a cat; For who so wolde senge the cattes skyn, Than wold the catte duellen … Read more

This story goes all the way back to the ancient Sanskrit, in which language was the word sakta, “attached,” the past participle of sanj, “to adhere.” This led to the Greek sattein, “to fasten,” which later became, “to pack, to put a burden on a horse,” from which was derived sagma, “a pack saddle.” The … Read more

There was no definite source; the word fiddle was in the language and, four hundred years ago, it had taken on the meaning “to act aimlessly,” so, just like such duplications as flip-flop, jimjams, helter-skelter, and the like, someone turned it into fiddlefaddle. Thus since the sixteenth century this nonsense word has implied aimless or … Read more

The first element of the word larboard, lar, is often assumed to have been a corruption of lade, thus making larboard the side of a vessel for loading, the side opposite the “steering side” or starboard. The assumption is logical, but the sad fact is that it cannot be traced, as a lawyer would say, … Read more

Which of the Southern states is your preference? The invention of this comestible, or at least the name for it, has been claimed by most of those south of the Potomac, though never even approximately dated by any, so you may make your own choice. The account of the origin of the name, however, is … Read more

Back in the days when criminals, real or fancied, were punished by being put to torture, the French word roue (no accent mark), meaning “wheel,” and derived from the Latin rota, came to have the special meaning “torture wheel.” From this, in turn, was coined the verb rouer, “to torture ( break) on the wheel.” … Read more

Many of the saints’ names have become associated in folklore with vagaries of the weather, some with actual occurrences (cf. St. Martin’s summer) and some with respect to weather to be anticipated. Swithin (sometimes Swithun) was Bishop of Winchester in the ninth century A.D., and upon his death was buried in the churchyard. According to … Read more

The peanut is so called only because the nut somewhat resembles a pea in size. In the early days of American colonization it was known as the ground-nut or ground-pea, because it developed under the surface of the ground, and those names still occur, especially in England. Another name is earth-nut. Discovered first in South … Read more

They used to call the Dandelion lion’s-tooth in England before the sixteenth century, but someone then got fancy notions and began to use the French name of this common European weed, dent de lion, though it has the same meaning. Of course, it didn’t make sense to the average Englishman to spell something dent de … Read more

A mariner’s term, “fife rail” now indicating a rail round the mainmast of a sailing vessel with holes into which belaying pins may be inserted. Originally, however, according to Admiral W. H. Smyth’s The Sailor’s Word-Book (1867), it formed “the upper fence of the bulwarks on each side of the quarter-deck and poop in men-of-war.” … Read more

It may have been a deliberate attempt to “glamourize” the dish. It may have been suggested in humorous vein; or it may have been a failure to understand the country humor in the original name, but whatever the reason, the word rarebit is used only to designate the cheese dish, Welsh rabbit, normally also in … Read more

In Latin, the word vice (two syllables) meant “alternate, in place of,” and, although it had the standing of a noun, there arose the practice in later Latin, and particularly in medieval Latin, of using it chiefly as one element of a compound noun. A number of these compounds were taken into the various other … Read more

To get the original significance of the term “hoodwink” we must go back to the old, old meaning of wink, to have one’s eyes closed. Thus, in the sixteenth century, when fashion decreed head coverings of cowls or hoods, often attached to the cloak, one became hoodwinked or blinded when the hood fell or was … Read more

According to the King James Version of the Bible, Genesis 36:15 reads: “These were dukes of the sons of Esau . . .” But when John Eliot, in 1663, translated the Bible into the tongue of the native Indians of Massachusetts, he used mugquomp, meaning “chieftain,” as the equivalent of “duke.” As Mug-Wump, the word … Read more

The title “hotspur”, or designation of extreme impetuosity, was first bestowed upon Sir Henry Percy, eldest son of the first Earl of Northumberland, born in 1364. He was only a lad of fourteen when he saw active service, but it was not until six years later that gained the title “Hotspur”, a name by which … Read more

An alternative spelling of “saltpeter”, preferred in England, is saltpetre. Chemically, saltpeter is potassium nitrate, a compound essential to the making of gunpowder and also of important value as a fertilizer. The name comes from the Latin sal petrae, “salt of the rock,” so-called because it is sometimes found in nature as an efflorescence on … Read more

Hundreds upon hundreds of ant lions have their diminutive pitfalls amid orange groves of Florida or wherever ants are numerous and the soil is composed of dry and very fine sand. Properly the name should be confined to the larvae, known also as doodlebugs, rather than to the adult insect, which resembles a dragonfly. The … Read more

The art of decorative weaving seems to have been well developed in many of the Oriental countries long before it was learned in Europe, and Persia, especially, has long been known for the craft of its weavers in turning out fine fabrics. Thus it is probably from the Persian that the word tapestry stems, though … Read more

Whether your wife cooks from a receipt or from a recipe makes no difference, for today the terms are equivalent in meaning. Both are derived from the Latin, recipere, “to receive,” the former from the participial form, recepta, the latter from the imperative form, recipe, “take!” The receipt was originally any set of directions for … Read more

The long-drawn-out War of the Spanish Succession, 1701-1714, in which the allied armies of England, Austria, the Netherlands, and Prussia were finally victorious over the combined forces of France and Spain, was not altogether popular in England. It cost many lives; it disrupted commerce, and the expense was enormous. All this was seen by the … Read more

In this day it seems amazing that the cat-o’-nine-tails instrument of punishment was actually authorized in the British Navy until as recently as 1881. It came into use in the late seventeenth century, and was probably greatly modified from time to time according to the nature of the person commanding the punishment and its duration, … Read more

The meaning of the word “handsome” has changed a bit. Five hundred years ago the idea behind it was “somewhat handy; easy to deal with,” but that original sense has now disappeared. Or, rather, it has given place to a more miserly notion that that which is most handy, most easy to deal with, is … Read more

The “padlock” is a type of lock that dates from the fifteenth century, but the name poses a riddle. Our language contains pads of varying kinds and descriptions, but there was only one, totally obsolete now, which was in use before that date. The toad. So it may have been that the removable lock of … Read more

One wonders sometimes what sort of beverage our forebears may have been consuming when they bestowed names upon some of the odd-looking critters they found in America. These salamanders, either the hellbender or the Necturus, no more resemble a puppy than they do a cat. They have four legs, and the resemblance stops about there. … Read more

Since April is the first month of spring, when all things are green, it stands to reason that people are green then too, and, no more than half awake after a long winter hibernation, in prime condition to be easily hoaxed. The custom was apparently brought across the channel from France to England about the … Read more

French is not the only language to suffer mutilation when lifted bodily into English. Latin has also suffered. In Roman times a plant, the centaury, was known to possess properties which could soothe a feverish person. For that reason the plant was also known as febrifugia, from febris, “fever,” and fugctre, “to drive away.” Passing … Read more

We are so accustomed to the use of chafe in the sense of “to abrade; to fret,” as to overlook that its earliest meaning (derived from Latin calefacio) was “to make warm.” And the chafing dish, or chafer, as first called, was designed for that purpose. They were used and so named five hundred years … Read more

Though natives and residents of Kansas now proudly proclaim themselves to be Jayhawkers, such publicity a hundred years ago was likely to be followed by a fight and bloodshed. Among the settlers of the territory they were abolitionists, men chiefly from non-slaveholding states who fought against pro-slavery settlers to keep Kansas free. Who coined the … Read more

It’s a long way ’round, but the name of the plant known as the Daffodil and its flower were originally and properly still should be asphodel, though the later name denotes a kind of narcissus rather than a true asphodel. In the fifteenth century, perhaps at first in imitation of some king or prince who … Read more

St. Elmo, even though described in some reference works as the patron of navigators, seems likely to be a figment of the imagination, although it has been suggested that his name may be a corruption of St. Anselm, St. Erasmus (the patron of Neapolitan sailors), or of Helena, the sister of Castor and Pollux. In … Read more

Sorry, but there was no Jack who had a hand in naming the American brandy derived from cider, nor any John either, unless it may have been John Barleycorn. Perhaps the tippler who first discovered that cider would ferment just happened to use the John-apple, so named because it ripened on or about St. John’s … Read more

Now, any man or boy who apes his betters or pretends to be more than he is. Apparently, however, this was originally an extended meaning of the earliest application, perhaps when memory of the first use had faded. That is, the first historical use was derisive, applied to William, Duke of Suffolk, when that knight … Read more

The phenomenon of a spell of warm, bright, pleasant weather occurring well after the official start of autumn is known to people in many parts of the world, and the event, known to North Americans as Indian summer, is known by many names. Thus, St. Martin’s Day is November 11, and when the summer-like weather … Read more

In times past, the only source of vinegar generally known was wine that, on turning, became sharp and acrid to the taste. And it is precisely this that is shown by the name, for it comes from the Old French vyn egre (which led to the modern French vinaigre). Vyn, or yin, comes from the … Read more