ROMANCE OF COMMON WORDS.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 16448, 3 June 1919, Page 7

ROMANCE OF COMMON WORDS.

CURIOUS ORIGINS AND INSTANCES.

r We are most of us interested in I hearing odd and unfamiliar usages of : speech or any novel words or pnrases ' which strike our imaginations as being i humourous, “'quaint,’' or amusing. Tec j few people, apart from the scholarly 1 class, are much given to reflecting on | the curious origins and often remote derivations of the most common slang phrases of the most ordinary words in nso amongst ns. When baby first begins to talk it generally proves cnllirallingly interesting to the proud parents ana others to hear him mouth such simple labial sounds as “papa” and “mamma.” These simple werus tin:us the common origin from which spring the words dcj noting parenthood in all the languages lof the world. The words for "father” 1 and “mother” arc indeed remarkably I alike amongst ail nations, in the ancient and modern dialects. The most ancient form is probably to be found in the Hebrew “ab ba”—father; “ba ba” you will note is merely tyi inversion. In Sanskrit, mother was “matara,” in Latin “mater,” in Persian “mader,” old English “moder;” while the French “mere,” “maman,” and our modern “mama” are all similar forms. The word for father shows the same similarity, except that among tho natives of West Australia it is “mamman,” mother beong “oongan.” SWANK AND SPANK. Amongst the words which have been most used, misused, and over-used in recent decades are the banal “swank” and “absolutely.” Compared with “swank,” the adverb “absolutely” is quite respectable, for it is in the dicj tionary, while “swank” is not. It l has a classic origin in the Latin “absolute” (ab, from, and solvere, to loosen), and meant originally to be without limits, or perfectly free. So when we say that a- thing is “absolutely great” or “absolutely rotten,” we have not, after all, got so very far away from its correct meaning, though its constant use is senseless and irritating. “Swank” is a word more difficult to define. Twenty rears ago it was only known as a public schoolboy phrase, meaning to work hard or over-much, in tho same sense as “swot.” Both these usages were probably derived from the old Saxon word to “swink,” to labour or toil. In its modern slang sense “swank” is probably derived from the old Scandinavian word “swagger,” to sway or walk with a swinging, strutting motion, and the old Saxon word “prank,” meaning to deck I out. to adorn, or make a big display. | “Spank” is another word which has i arrived at a doubtful currency amongst • some folks in recent decades. In its punitive domestic sense the word arouses painful recollections of childhood days, and it is interesting to recall its use, as long ago .as 1869, by L. M. Alcott in her popular book, “Little Women.” in the sentence, “Meg led her : son away, feeling a strong desire to spank the little marplot.” : WHEBE “FLAPPER” COMES FROM Two very popular and quite pleasant- ; !y used words during recent years in ■ “society,” as well as in middle-class j circles, have been “flapper,” as applied to girls of the long-regged, shortskirted type with thou - hair tied in a j long plait at the back, and “topping,” I used as an adjective of praise in a good i many senses. “Flapper,” however, in | its present sense has undergone a con- I siderable improvement as to its mean- j ing and application. Originally, in | its much earlier and now almost forgot- j ten usage its meant a young street girl i of the lowest class who had taken to evil courses of life at an earlier age ! than hsual. It is also given in an ' old dictionary as meaning “a small I girl; a fledgling or wild duck.” j “Topping” is university slang, pure j and simple. Its earliest use was amongst the Oxford and Cambridge undergraduates, and its earliest appearance in print is in Arthur Hugh Clough’s book, “Tober-Ua Vuolioh,” in winch one of the characters says of another that he was “shady in Latin ; but ‘topping’ in plays”—meaning the Greek dramatists. “Top-hole,” in golfer’s parlance, is often used in tho same sense as “topping.” Link, by the way, as applied to golf links, is from the old Saxon word “Mine,” meaning a. hedge or narrow bounding space like the “seashore.” /

YANKEE. During the last few yeans we have bad reason to bless the Americans for their assistance in “squaring accounts” with the Kaiser, and the popular song, “The Yanks are Coming 1 ’ (“Over There”) has passed into history. Yet few know the origin of the word “Yankee.” In Gordon’s history of the j American War of Independence (1759) occurs the following; “You may wish to I know the . origin of the word Yankee, j ... It was a cant favourite word with ! Fanner Jonathan Hastings about the .year 1713. Tho inventor used it to ! express excellency. A Yankee good horse, a. Yankee cider, and the like, were an excellent and an excellent cider.” Later on, the British troops in the War of Independence used it as a term of reproach against the Now England farmers, who proved themselves such doughty fighters.

Another word with American associations is “skyscraper,” as applied to a. tail, many-storied building. Originally the term was only used among seamen, meaning “the small triangular sail set above the royals,” of “a sky •sail.” Sir Walter Scott uses it in “Guy Mannering” in the sentence: “Run out the bolt-sprit .... top-gal-lant sails, royals, and skyscrapers, and away—-follow who can!”

THE FLTJ. The word “flue,” of “flu,” meaning the dreaded influenza, has a doleful significance nowadays. 'Neither the word nor the disease can be called new; and the old Scottish chronicler, Bower, in the year 1420 mentions that large numbers of people died of a disease described as “that infirmity whereby not only great men, but’ innumerable quantity of the commonality, perished, and which was vulgarly termed the ‘quhew.’ ”. Now “quli” in tlie old Scottish usa.ge represents the sound of “wh” (aspirated properly), therefore it seems that in the fiitr-cnih century the influenza was known as the “ivhew,” just as in the twentieth it is called the “flu.”

Words that have undergone a remarkable change of meaning with the passage of the centuries are “pretty” ami “nice.” Roth those words meant orgiuaily almost exactly the reverse of their present definitions. “Pretty” comes from the old French word proud or “prud.” In old Saxon the word became “prut”—magnificent, splendid, vain, insolent’. From this came “prit” or “pritte,” meaning almost the same;

| till at length, it came to signify handI some, bold, or fine; finally, after many I gradations, reaching its present usual j sense as a personal adjective of girlish and effeminate significance. “Nice,” which comes from a French source, at first meant foolish, absurd, ridiculous, then in course of time it came to signify wanton, whimsical, fantastic; then delicate and subtle, till finally it was used to denote any specially pleasant quality.

WEDLOCK. •“Wedlock” is another word which has lost some of its original meaning. It comes from a similar Saxon source as ‘brydlac.” Young people nowadays look upon marriage as a rather serious and solemn undertaking. It was a jovial festival with our forefathers apparently; for the Saxon terminal “Inc” meant play or sport; and the word is still used in this sense in parts of Yorkshire and Cumberland. Moreover, the Saxon word “bridal” is derived from tho two old words “bryd,” a bride, and “ealo,” ale; so that is really mans “the festive drinking in honour of the bride.’’

“Bamboozle,” meaning to swindle or hoax, is a term we still hoar very frequently. It is at least 200 years old; for Dean Swift, wilting on contemporary manners, speaks of “certain words such as banter and bamboozle now struggling for the vogue.” Me arc all aware that names of persons and tilings change their spelling and pronunciation us the centuries pass. We don’t_ really know, for instance, whether Sir Walter Raleigh pronounced “Rawleigh” or simply ‘Hally • , But there is\one great name which has never changed, and that is Smith. The word originally meant a handicraftsman who made things by beating, weld mg, or smiting. It occurs in the oldest writings in the language, its exact origin as to race and period being lost in the mists of antiquity. As applied to trades we have retained such forms as “locksmith” and “blacksmith,” but have lost such interesting usages as “loresmith,” a teacher, or “laughtersmith,” a mirthmaker or comedian. “Wigsmith” was a very singular form of tho word, mean mg not a maker of wigs as we might imagine, but a. warrior bold (from the Icelandic “vigr,” meaning “fit for war”)

BEANFEAST. Me often hear people speak of “having a ‘beanfeast’ ” when they have had a merry time, especially in the way of eating and drinking. The origin of this phrase seems to be altogether obscure. Some writers would derive it from the French “bien,” good, “a good feast; others favour its derivation from the English “bene,” a benefit. 1 crimps its most likely origin is to be found in the .substantial breakfasts and other meals at which the Americans were wont to partake of broad beans, baked beans, and other similar dishes. On the other hand, it is known that the London tilers in the old days wore accustomed to call all their festive gatherings beanfeasts, or what the modern Cockney would describe, in the singular, as a “beano.” A phrase we see much of in the newspapers nowadays is “Sinn Fein,” two words from the Erse or ancient Irish, moaning, it is stated, “for ourselves ’ M bother this means that those who compose the now predominating party in Ireland arc fighting for Ireland entirely or themselves only is not as yet clear. “DEMOBBED” AND “CUSHY.” M e have recently had a- good instance of the birth, of a word before the pub* lie eye in “demobbed,” its mother being the ordinary official terms “demobilised,” and its father some ingenious Tommy or fortilh-bnained newspaperman. “Demobbed” has come before ns often of late as a thriving youngster, hut is not likely to survive, perhaps, ns long as tho favourite word “cotichc,” or “cushy,” from tho French word “couchor,” to lie down, repose, or have an easy time generally—very popular among our hard-working and hardfighting soldiers while they were enduring tho hardships of tho trenches in France and Flanders.

To conclude, it may he mentioned that the popular farewell cry of “Good-bye-eo” from the music-hall song, is an interesting reversion to the older compound, “God-be-with-yon.” This developed into “Gocl-bo-wi-ye.” the final “e” sou.mi being dropped when it was contracted into its present form as a single word “Good-bye.”—l F.T.H.T.