COMMON WORDS THAT COMMEMORATE PEOPLE

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXVI, 12 April 1934, Page 2

COMMON WORDS THAT COMMEMORATE PEOPLE

Many words'we use every day of our lives are derived from the names of real persons. Clothes, for instance, often form perpetual memorials to their inventors, or to the men who first wore them. Burberries, trilbies, cardigans, and chesterfields are common examples. Places, too, sometime.'? take their names from persons who have been prominent in connection with their histories. Gibraltar is a case in point. The word was originally Jebol-al-Turik, which means the hill of Tarik, a Moorish general who captured the Rock more than a thousand years ago. The Bowie knife, Mauser rille, and Colt revolver all perpetuate the names of the person who first thought, of them. When heavy weights have to be lifted, use is often made of a derrick, hut not many of those who are familiar with this device know that it is called after Derrick, a notorious hangman of the sixteenth century. Another mail whose name has passed into our language "is Jean Nicot, who has given lis nicotine. He was a Frenchman who spent much time in spreading a knowledge of the tobacco plant. Chippendale chairs, Macadam roads, and so on. are more examples of names that have become words. Railway time-tallies are frequently referred to as Bradshaws, and Treasury notes as Rrndburys or Fishers. Electrical science is rich in proper names used as common words. Volts are named after an Italian scientist. Volta, who was horn in 17-18, while Ampere, a French professor of the nineteenth century, has given his name to another measurement. Watt is derived in the same manlier.