SOURCE OF WORDS

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 107, 7 May 1924, Page 14

SOURCE OF WORDS

THE ROMANCE OF, SPEECH

EVERYDAY. EXPRESSIONS

DERIVATION OF SIMPLE PHRASES

r-Itis a truism to say that we cannot speak with.; any. fliiency, without using would 'take' .us back' .to ; the ' beginnings' bi . civilisation. Only a ; student''of ..-words knows the ro-•manee-that-underlies speech. Some words ■havo'-.consistently retained' their original meaning," but others have changed curiously; in the course of centuries, and many commonly-used phrases spring from strange and interesting sources.

■ At one time a .of course, a.guinea, waa a coin, . supposed to have been first introduced, in 166^, and made'ot gold brought from/the coast of Guinea. Another theory as to its origin' puts the date forwardthree years, when Dutch, sailing vessels containing bullion, and gold dust from Guinea were captured oii the high seas, and the gold was minted into guineas, stamped with the figure of. an elephant. When first brought into . use a guinea represented only liOSj but in. 16a-'U it was worth as much,as 30s. la 1698 it fell to 21s 6d,an^l in. 1717 lost.the odd sixpence,; and; remained at 21s until it. disappeared from the. coinage. The last issue of guineas occurred- in 1813,..f0ur years before tho':' sovereign/ was .minted.. .Tho: re ten-: tion of the term after the actual coin had disappeared was appreciated by many people, especially those, -attached to professions.. ;According ' to'" derivation," ■ tho' word '.'shilling" means' the .division of money into small parts, and has nothing 'to do with' a coin. "Penny" really means a token or pledge, and has .the same origin, as "pawn." A piece of cloth was' found to be a convenient form of pledge, and in the; Latin "parma," a piece of cloth, we have .the history of the origin of ' tho word- \ve s no\y : apply to a .copper of which' the original ■ spelling , was "peny." ■'"' ' : .

. The name of the place'where ■we store money came '..: from an : Italian word "banco," meaning, a- table. :< In .the .earlydays of ' finance,' money-changers. used> to handle their:;goods; on tables or, benches', and ,'wheil.. !a changer," .failed. to hold his1 own' h'is^ tench '-was destroyed'and Ke was "banco rottq," our modern bankrupt. At one timo Italy's great financiers were the Medicis, .-who. initiated; the.' custom of: ad-, vanoingr money on pledges.. Three, balls figured. prominently in- the family's coat of .arms, hence thu sign outside a modern pawnshop.. The- Word "sterling" arose in connection with'the activities of the Hanseatio League, the' members of which wen known as "Easterlings" .'because . their land lay on the eait side of England. It was'only a matter/of time-before "Easter; lings" began to be, used as. an adjective to. distinguish Hariseatic money from other money.'. Time also'took part in the transformation of the expression '"Easterling" ' money into the word "sterling." . . ; '„'.. i 'c ORIGIN :OF i"COTJRT," ■■'■v --;, . .•' •:'*"'"■''.'': i- ~ ':■ ■■- .' ■■ If we take the trouble to trice the-word "court"; to- its 'origin,, we must, go back, to- the district ;of- Latium before it. became Rome. .There,; the: shepherds' used to put sheep in pens made of hurdles. These "enclosures were called "cors," a collection of cors forming a. cohors. An extensive cohors became the centre of. a hamlet, .then the word .was applied to a. fortified place, a: royal'residence, arid finally to a legal establishment' over which tho King had jurisdiction^'hence the rnodernlcourt of law. The early connection of ■ lawyers. with clerics. is ■ evidenced by the circular \ hole>:gii^f ; the centre ; of. ■ a Judge's wig, ■ whicfr'hs^i.survival, of tho ( : monastic .and; clerical tonsure. A-bar-1 ristar, of . course, derives hisytitle from the Bar" within which he stands/:'."When a Judge puts" on the black cap, he'is:completing, his costume, 'in recognition of the most serious of all :his duties, and is, re-, viving an ancient custom of covering the Kead as a sign 'of mourning.. .The is kissed' by a witness because ,'evidencb .must proceed from tho lips, whicli, should De purged from falseliood by contact with the^Holy Scriptures... In. the •good, old; days docks were cages mad© of iron and decorated; with dangerous \:spikes',' -tho Flemish root word "dockc'!. meaning a cage. A constable was originally a head. Stableman. ' : '■■■■':■ .■■'■■ -■■■;■■ -.'■ . "Curate" is another word : that has not ! retained'its early , meaning.:, At one .timo a curate was a.cleric in charge of.a parish, not, an assistant. ..Parson ■ meant person, and a vicar, originally occupied the , tion of the, inoderii!"'ciiraie.' :A. clergyman was: formerly a. clerk, because'the cloth in the early ! dajs'v[of "-British "leaj'iiingf had :practically, a, monopoly of education. Until 14-29 a.-,, curate was immune from arrest; no matter how-badly he behaved, and'-it !-wns'not until .1610 that;the bid- nioriasfcio: ideas were sufficiently weakened to permit the children of clergy to-be' legitimatisiid. In the words "roam"; and "canter" we have; survivals of those days when a ipromiuent duty, of the religious was to-make pilgrimages to Rome and Qantarbury. The roads .to the latter placo were not perfect, ■ and• it was unsafe:for.a horseman to :increase. the speed of his mount-beyond a .canter. Tho Greek "bous," a sacred cake .offered-'to the gods, is the. origin of our word.-"bun,"''and in ;this origin .we have ■. an ■' explanation; of.: the use .of -hot cross buns, on Good Friday. ' . : ■"•■ MOKE 'DEiIOCRATid' THAJSr':HERE-:-:- :-:]., \- -:i-%^ •;' ; TOFORE^/;, V■ ;„. ."■' .'.-There is n*6 doubt tii'kt.in most.ways we aroi much-, more democratic than we used to; be. In- the old, Roman times,' wedding cake , was./ohly - 'available for ■ patricians, who wore, .entitled to tho blessing*., of Tontifex' Maximus. In "pin money" we have the faint beginnings of the modern feminist movemerit, because the bestowal of this money was one of .the earliest re-' 'cognitions that women were worthy: and capable of 'possessing and controlling' property, and that, alter all, they mio-ht have been intended by'the--Creator to^bo something else than the playthings or oliattels of: men. Tho' fact that, the terms spinster,-wobster, -sall-ster, brewster, sheioster once belonged to ..women is: a counter charge to tho .accusation that women ot tuo present .time; a;re stealing the occupations o f num. Women used also to'bo a bakster,' but.it was-after men stole her" vocation that the question of short weio-hc arose, and their, it became common lor cautious bakers to add an extra piece of bread .to an order, and the practice gave rise to the expression :"baker's dozen." -Blankets, were '.first made by Thomas. Blanket m the fifteenth century and bowler hats, were named: after thoir inventor, another Thomas," wuo lived at Southwark. .In 1846 a /short watch chain was presented lo the Prince Consort and so iiltrerLs came: into, being. ' Pioneer 'footmen waited or rah in front of sedan chairs -and carriages to]-clear tho-way, and minor servants of the Tudor C'rovyn, who dressed in black, wcro called blackguards. Badly behaved members, of. religious houses had their names written.in.black.books, lieuco tho modern phrase for disgrace. ■ The- word "idiot, ' when first- used, .meant an ' or-:-dmary John Citiison 'who was- not employed; by .ertlip'r Church or State, tUo' only two-organisations that counted' in t-hoso days. 'Gradually an idea of inoompdtence was associated with: the, word, until, ifc camo to . moan:": hopeless., incompetence; which many people'of to-day believe to bo a rather dielinguishihg^iHark of tiic Civil Service,';and m we. got a., double metamofi]?lio?in, -. '. .- . ." .... .

The actual often gives rise to the metaphorical. When the. Greek philosopher Zcno was being pounded to death in a mortar he begged one of ..his persecutors to como near, so that, ho might hoar tt very wonderful secret. The. tyrant came, and pill-ting his ear'- close to (.tie mouth of tho dyiuß man, had . the. painful" expertonce of losing -it. -So we have, (lie origin of that commonly used -.'•expression "bitin" remark:"-. "A little Wrd Mold me. ia Bibiicul in orifrin, and the fact that Judas is' supposed., to have possessed red hair is said_ to havo prej udic'cd some people aj?atnst the colour, of which Cleopatra was proud. When, wo- talk of "Buckling to" we ore. liarking'bacTc to the time .when armour was worn and buckles had to he adjusted before, the ..wearer went into ■witiqa.- and "I'renoh leave'1 is said to have

first been taken when tho English bowmen opened fire at Crecy and, Agincourt. Kick the bucket" has really no relation to a bucket, but refers to a north' country English word for a beam on which a carcass was hung; and a Jew's harii has notJnnpr to do with Palestine, but is olosely related to a French word Vjou," a toy. ■ !Lars. seem to have possessed occult powers for many hundreds of centimes, because thousands" ol years ago 1 liny wrote, "When our ears do' glow and tingle, some do talk of us in our absence. .. ■