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PHRASES AND NAMES
THEIR ORIGINS AND
MEANINGS
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PHRASES AND NAMES
THEIR ORIGINS AND
MEANINGS
BY
TRENCH H. JOHNSON
“_How did such and such a country, city, town,
street, river, natural curiosity, or world-renowned
edifice obtain its name? Whence arose a particular
sobriquet, nickname, byword, epithet, or slang term?
What was the origin of the thousand-and-one phrases
and expressions engrafted upon our vocabulary which
would appear to have no meaning whatever? These
things are worthy of investigation._”
PHILADELPHIA
J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY
LONDON
T. WERNER LAURIE
PREFACE
_Few words are necessary to introduce this work to the reader. It
partakes of the nature of an encyclopædia, with the saving clause that
the information it sets forth is confined to a plain statement of facts.
Verbal embellishments have been studiously avoided. Those who seek for
additional intelligence may easily obtain it from ordinarily available
sources. To account for the origin of popular phrases and names has been
the author’s sole design. To the best of his knowledge, no other work of
the kind exists. From the stores of his own knowledge, acquired through
many years of omnivorous reading, patient inquiry, and investigation, he
has been enabled to bring together an_ Olla podrida _which should go far
towards supplying a want_.
_The origin of place-names is interesting in that it opens up the
history of peoples and the civilising influences, if so one might term
it, of conquest. London street-names, in particular, convey in one word
to a person of antiquarian tastes as much meaning as “a volume of
forgotten lore.” As to phrases and expressions, the author has made a
special study of the subject. A great many Americanisms have been
included, but as the number is daily increasing it would require a
monthly publication of such home-made phrases to keep fully abreast with
the times. That nothing should be wanting in the way of exhaustiveness,
it has been thought advisable to incorporate in the text a number of
slang terms and expressions which daily assail one’s ears. To the author
the compilation of this volume has been a pleasant recreation in the
intervals of more exacting literary labours. If it be found to contain a
plethora of good things, the reader will, of course, take them out in
small doses._
_T. H. J._