this name.
=Savoy Street.= From the Savoy Chapel, the original of which, prior to
its destruction by fire, 7th July 1864, was the only remaining
portion of the ancient Savoy Palace built by Peter of Savoy, uncle
to the queen of Henry III., in 1249.
=Sawney.= A variant of “Sandy.”
=Saxons.= From the _seax_, the short crooked knife with which this tribe
were armed. _Sahs_ is the Old German for knife. Since the days of
Daniel O’Connell Irish patriots have been fond of referring to the
English people as Saxons, the natural enemies of the Celts.
=S’Blood.= A trooper’s corruption of “His Blood,” or the precious blood
of the Redeemer. This species of profanity survives in the vulgar
swear-word “Bloody.”
=Scales of Justice.= The ancient Egyptians believed that the good deeds
of a soul after death would be weighed against his evil deeds. The
Koran likewise teaches that the merits and demerits of departed
souls are balanced in the scales of the Archangel Gabriel; hence the
phrase now popular all the civilised world over.
=Scalper.= An Americanism for one who speculates in railroad tickets,
and consequently obtains them at a reduction of their top prices.
=Scaramouch.= A character in the old Italian comedy, the prototype of
the modern clown, so called from _scaramuccia_, a skirmish.
=Scarborough.= The fortified scar or precipitous cliff, so called on
account of the castle built about 1136.
=Scarborough Warning.= A warning given too late to be taken advantage
of. In 1557 Thomas Stafford seized Scarborough Castle before the
townsfolk had the least intelligence of his approach. After taking
possession he advised them to fly from the town and leave their
belongings.
=Scarlet.= From the Persian _sakarlat_, “bright red.”
=Scavenger’s Daughter.= A corruption of Skevington’s Daughter, this
instrument of torture being the invention of William Skevington,
Lieutenant of the Tower, _temp._ Henry VIII. He called it his
daughter because it emanated from his own brain. Those who were
fated to suffer by it sadly consented, as the saying was, to “Kiss
the Scavenger’s Daughter.”
=Schaffhausen.= Literal German for “sheep-houses” or pens.
=Schiedam.= Another name for Hollands, or Dutch gin, from the place
where this native spirit is distilled.
=Schooner.= This kind of vessel received its name from the exclamation
of a spectator at the time when its earliest example was launched:
“Look, she schoons!”
=Schottische.= Expresses the German for a Scottish dance, a variation of
the polka, in three-quarter time. The Scots, however, repudiate its
invention. It is not improbable that a Scotsman, sojourning in the
Fatherland, blundered into this step through his inability to dance
the polka correctly.
=Scilly Isles.= After the name of one of the smallest, in proximity to a
very dangerous rock similar to that of Scylla in Sicily which,
according to Homer, was the abode of a monster so denominated.
=Scissors-tail.= A South American bird which in the course of its
flights opens and shuts its tail for the purpose of entrapping the
flies that constitute its prey.
=Scorching.= A bicycling term which, curiously enough, only came into
vogue after the possibility of realising it had been removed. In the
days of the old “Bone-shaker,” before rubber tyres were heard of,
there would have been great likelihood of setting the wooden machine
on fire by furious riding on the part of an expert.
=Scotch Reel.= See “Reel.”
=Scot-free.= A phrase derived from the old legal exaction “Scot and
Lot,” the former being derived from the Anglo-Saxon _sceat_, pay,
and the latter meaning a tribute allotted to every man according to
his means. It was rare indeed that anyone got off “Scot-free” in
ancient times.
=Scotia.= From the Celtic _scot_, wanderer, with the suffix _ia_,
country; the ancient designation of the Highlands, now, with the
Lowlands, called “Scotland.”
=Scotists.= Those who accepted the doctrine of John Duns Scotus relative
to the Immaculate Conception, in opposition to the “Thomists.”
=Scotland.= See “Scotia.”
=Scotland Yard.= On the site of the original Scotland Yard stood an
ancient palace appropriated to the Scottish kings, who were required
to pay homage once a year to the English sovereign at Westminster
Abbey. The last Scottish monarch so accommodated was Margaret, the
sister of Henry VII.
=Scots.= See “Scotia.”
=Scottish Covenanters.= See “Covenanters.”
=Scottish Hogarth.= The surname of David Allan of Alloa, whose portraits
and historical paintings occupy a high position in the esteem of his
countrymen.
=Scottish Presbyterians.= The successors of the Scottish Covenanters,
and founders of the Established Church of Scotland. See
“Presbyterians.”
=Scowerers.= Eighteenth-century rakes who scoured the streets of London
by night, overturning the “Old Charlies” in their boxes, and
molesting peaceable citizens.
=Scratched Horse.= One that has its name struck out of the final list of
runners in a race. Those who have backed their money on it swear a
little, but no one else cares a jot for their discomfiture.
=Screw.= Colloquial for “wages.” See “Raise your Screw.”
=Screwed.= Drunk. This is simply a play on the word “Tight.”
=Screw of Tobacco.= So called because it is screwed up in a paper.
=Scriptures.= Expresses the plural of the Latin _scriptura_, a writing,
from the verb _scribere_, to write. The Bible is a collection of
books or writings.
=Scroll of Fame.= The word “Scroll” is a corruption of “Roll,” relative
to paper, although from “scroll” we have derived the term
“Schedule.” See “Roll Call.”
=Scullery.= The annexe to a kitchen, where the dishes and pots are
washed up, so called from the Norman-French _esculle_, a porringer
or dish. The man-servant or boy whose work lay in the scullery was
in former days called a “Scullion.”
=S’Death.= A softened form of the profane oath “His Blood,” in reference
to the Saviour.
=Sea of Marmora.= From the Latin _marmor_, marble, which for centuries
has been quarried on a small island at its western extremity.
=Sebastopol.= From the Greek _Sebastopolis_, “august city.”
Secretary Bird. A South African bird distinguished by a tuft of
feathers on each side of its head which form a fanciful resemblance
to quill pens stuck behind the ear.
=Sectarians.= The general name for Dissenters attached to any one of the
numerous sects or denominations outside the Established Church.
=Secular Clergy.= See “Regular Clergy.”
=Secularist.= From the Latin _seculum_, an age, a generation; one who
advocates the happiness or well-being of the community during the
present life, leaving the future completely out of count.
Sedan-chairs. First made at Sedan, France.
=See how it pans out.= Originally a miners’ phrase in the Far West. To
separate the gold grains from the earth in which they are found a
pan of water is brought into service; when the pan is shaken the
gold collects at the bottom.
=Seekers.= The original designation of the Quakers, because they sought
the truth with the solicitude of Nicodemus, the Jewish ruler (John
iii. 1-21).
=Seething Lane.= A corruption of Sidon Lane, after the name of the first
builder on the land.
=Selkirk’s Island.= Also called the isle of “Juan Fernandez.”
=Seltzer Water.= A corrupted spelling of “Seltsers,” the name of a
village near Limburg in Prussia famous for its mineral springs.
=Senate.= The Upper House of the United States Congress. The term
properly implies an elder, from the Latin _senis_, an old man.
=Senegambia.= The territory situated between the Senegal and Gambia
Rivers.
=Sent to Coventry.= As its name implies, Coventry was in olden times a
great centre of religious life, touching the number of its
conventual establishments. Soldiers sent to the garrison there soon
discovered that no woman would speak to them. Hence to be sent to
Coventry was a great hardship, since it meant being cut off from
“life” in every form, and female intercourse particularly.
=Separatists.= Another name for the Home Rulers during the lifetime of
Mr Parnell. It implied virtual separation from English rule.
=Sepia.= Greek for “cuttle-fish,” from the inky secretion under the
glands of which this pigment is obtained.
=September.= The seventh month of the Roman year, counting from March.
=Serjeants’ Inn.= Anciently the inn or mansion of the “Freres Serjens,”
a brotherhood of Servitors to the Knights Templars hard by. It was
these who performed the ordinary household duties in the Temple.
=Serle Street.= After Henry Serle of Lincoln’s Inn, the owner of
considerable property in this neighbourhood when the parish of St
Clement Danes was very different to what it is now.
=Sermon Lane.= Anciently “Sheremoniers’ Lane,” so called from the money
shearers or clippers’ office adjacent to the first London Mint.
=Serpentine.= An artificial winding lake formed out of the pools and the
Tyburn in Hyde Park in 1733. See “Bayswater.”
=Servia.= The country of the _Suevi_, a people driven by the Romans into
that portion of Germany now called “Suabia,” until after further
migrations northward they settled in Sweden.
=Servites.= This religious Order grew out of the pious example of seven
Florentine merchants who in 1283 assembled each evening for
devotional exercises in a lady chapel and styled themselves “The
Religious Servants of the Holy Virgin.” The London house of the
Community is in the Fulham Road.
=Set her Cap at him.= With the coquetry peculiar to her sex, a female
always put on her most becoming cap to attract the male visitor whom
she favoured. Now that caps are no longer worn she resorts to other
devices, but the old expression survives.
=Set the Thames on fire.= A “temse” was the old name for a sieve,
agreeably to the French _tamis_ and the Italian _tamiso_, which
terms express the same implement. A sifter would require to work
very hard indeed to ignite his sieve. Accordingly a bystander often
said to him touching his apparent laziness: “You’ll never set the
temse on fire!” Its punning
=Seven Dials.= A once notorious thieves’ neighbourhood, which received
its name from a stone column presenting seven dials or faces, from
which the same number of streets radiated. This, originally set up
to mark the limits of St Giles’s and St Martin’s parishes, was
removed in 1763, owing to the erroneous idea that a large sum of
money lay buried beneath it.
=Seven Sisters’ Road.= This long road, extending from Holloway to
Tottenham, received its name from seven trees planted in Page Green
in the latter parish by the Sisters Page. Local tradition has it
that one of these was a cripple, and the tree planted by her grew up
deformed.
=Seventh Day Baptists.= See “Sabbatarians.”
=Saxagesima Sunday.= Approximately the sixtieth day before Easter.
=Seymour Place.= After one of the family names of the Portmans, owners
of the estate.
=Seymour Street.= Far removed from Seymour Place, this has no connection
with the Portman family, having received its name from the first
builder on the land.
=Shadwell.= A corruption of “St Chad’s Well,” a reputed holy well
discovered hereabouts in ancient days.
=Shaft Alley.= See “St Andrew Undershaft.”
=Shaftesbury Avenue.= After Anthony Ashley Cooper, seventh Earl of
Shaftsbury, who performed the opening ceremony of this new
thoroughfare shortly before his death in 1885.
=Shah Diamond.= A gem weighing 86 carats, long the property of Chosroes
I., Shah of Persia, who, dying in 579, presented it to a Khan of the
Tartars, from whom it descended to Ivan III., the grandfather of
Ivan the Terrible, the first Czar of Russia.
=Shakers.= An American sect, first heard of in 1774, at Albany in the
state of New York, so called from the convulsive movements of the
hands and arms as part of their peculiar form of worship. Its
founder was Ann Lee, self-styled “Mother Ann,” of Manchester, who,
receiving little encouragement for her religious tenets in her
native land, emigrated with a few disciples to the New World.
=Shalloon.= Originally manufactured at Chalons in France.
=Shanty.= This term for a hut or cabin first obtained currency in
Canada, having been derived from the French settlers, who gave the
name _chantier_ to a hut erected in a dockyard under construction.
=Shattered Prices.= An Americanism for “reduced prices.”
=“She” Bible.= See “‘He’ Bible.”
=Sheen.= See “Richmond.”
=Sheet Anchor.= A corruption of “Shote Anchor,” an extra heavy one, that
can be expeditiously shot out for the greater security of a vessel
under stress of weather. To act as a sheet anchor to a man is to be
his mainstay or chief dependence.
=Sheffield.= From the River Sheaf, on the confluence of which and the
Don the town stands.
=Shekel Day.= The day (27th May) set apart every year throughout the
Jewish world for the collection of a shekel--a shilling, franc mark,
half rouble, or “quarter,” according to the currency of the
individual country--in support of the Zionist Movement for the
re-colonisation of Palestine. The word “shekel” is from the Hebrew
_shekal_, to weigh.
=Shepherdess Walk.= A name reminiscent of the days when the entire
district between Finsbury and “Merrie Islington” was open fields.
=Shepherd’s Bush.= Pleasantly pastoral as the name is, this district is
now wholly built over. A “Shepherd’s bush” was a hillock covered
with soft vegetation on which he reclined while tending his flocks.
=Shepherd’s Market.= The site of a former weekly market, the land of
which, like that of Market Street and Shepherd Street, was owned by
a person of this name.
=Shepperton.= A corruption of “Shepherd’s Town”; whether derived from
the name of the landowner, or because the district was originally
given up to sheep-folds, is not known.
=Sherbet.= The national beverage in Arabia, so called from _shariba_, to
drink, because it is taken at a single draught; hence the same name
applied to effervescing liquors in this country.
=Sherry.= An English corruption of “Sherris,” a dry wine exported from
Xeres in Spain.
=Sherry Cobbler.= An American drink which, in addition to the ordinary
ingredients of a “Cobbler,” contains a dash of sherry.
=Shetland Isles.= Anciently described as _Hyaltland_, the Norse for
“Viking Land,” the name was softened into Zetland, and finally as we
now have it.
=She Wolf of France.= A name that will ever cling to the memory of
Isabella, the queen of Edward II., whom she caused to be murdered
most foully through the instrumentality of her paramour, the Earl of
Mortimer. This monster of iniquity lies buried in Christ Church,
Newgate Street.
=Shift.= An old name for a chemise, denoting a shift or change of linen;
also an industrial term for a change of men at certain hours, so
that work can be carried on uninterruptedly by day and night.
=Shillelagh.= A oaken sapling fashioned into a cudgel for self-defence,
so called from a wood in Ireland celebrated for its oaks.
=Shilling.= This silver coin was of considerable value to our ancestors,
who always sounded it as a test of its genuineness. Hence, as the
“ringing coin,” the Anglo-Saxons gave it the name of _scilling_,
which, like the modern German _schilling_, is derived from the verb
_schallen_, to sound.
=Shinplaster.= An Americanism for a bank-note. During the Civil War
paper money was so much depreciated in value that its possessors
could not easily negotiate it at any price. Finding this to be his
own case, an old soldier philosophically used his bank-notes as
plasters for a wounded shin.
=Ship.= A tavern sign commemorative of the circumnavigation of the globe
by Sir Francis Drake; also a technical term in the printing trade
for the compositors working together in a particular room or
department, being an abbreviation of “Companionship.”
=Shire.= A portion of land scired or sheared off under the Saxon
Heptarchy for the creation of an earldom.
=Shoe Lane.= This name has no connection with shoemakers, or cordwainers
as they were anciently called. As an offshoot of Fleet Street, the
great thoroughfare of taverns, this was anciently “Show Lane,” lined
with booths and shows like a country fair.
=Shooter.= An Americanism for a revolver.
=Shooters’ Hill.= A corruption of “Suitors’ Hall,” so called from the
suitors or place hunters who came this way when Henry VIII. had his
Court at Greenwich.
=Shooting Iron.= A Far West term for a rifle.
=Shop.= Theatrical slang for an engagement.
=Shop-lifting.= This phrase for abstracting goods from a shop counter
had its origin in the printer’s technical term “Lifting.”
=Shoreditch.= All other suggested derivations notwithstanding, this
district really received its name from the manor of Sir John
Soerditch, a wealthy citizen, and a favourite of Edward the Black
Prince, by whose side he fought at Crecy and Poitiers.
=Show.= Theatrical slang for a performance.
=Shrewsbury.= See “Shropshire.”
=Shropshire.= This name expresses in a roundabout way the shire of
Shrewsbury, the Anglo-Saxon _Scrobbesburgh_ that grew up around an
ancient castle among the scrubs or shrubs, softened by the Normans
into _Sloppesbury_, which lent its name to what is now “Salop,” and
finally corrupted into Shrewsbury.
=Shrove Tuesday.= A corruption of “Shrive Tuesday” when all good
Catholics confessed their sins in preparation for receiving the
blest ashes on the following morning.
=Siberia.= The country ruled from the ancient town of Sibir, the capital
of the Tartars, and which contained the palace of the renowned
Kutsheen Khan, the ruins of which are still visible.
=Sicily.= From the _Siculi_, a tribe who became masters of the island,
expelling the _Sicanii_, its ancient inhabitants.
=Sick.= A word uniformly used throughout the United States in the place
of “ill,” as in our own country. This is not an Americanism, but
good honest English, having been introduced to the New World by the
Pilgrim Fathers who sailed in the _Mayflower_. Both in the Bible and
in Shakespeare sick, not ill, is employed. This is one of the few
instances in which the Americans have preserved a word true to its
original meaning.
=Sidmouth Street.= After Lord Sidmouth, a popular Minister at the
accession of George IV., when this street was first built upon.
=Side Walk.= An Americanism for the English “pavement” and the Scottish
“causeway.”
=Siedlitz Powders.= From Siedlitz in Bohemia, whence, like the
celebrated mineral waters of the same name, they are obtained.
=Sienna.= A pigment obtained from the native _Terra di Sienna_ in Italy.
=Sign on.= An industrial phrase for signing one’s name in a book on
arriving to commence the day’s work. The like procedure at the day’s
close is styled “Sign off.”
=Silhouette.= After Etienne de Silhouette, Comptroller of Finance under
Louis XV., who was the first to have his features outlined from a
side view on black paper.
=Sillery.= A champagne produced from the extensive vineyards of the
Marquis de Sillery.
=Silver Captain.= The sobriquet of Admiral Sir Henry Digby from the
large haul he on 15th October 1799 made by the capture of a Spanish
treasure ship laden with dollars, his own share of the prize money
amounting to £40,730, 18s. This he attributed to a fortunate dream,
in which he repeatedly heard a voice exclaim: “Digby! Digby! steer
to the northward!”
=Silver-tongued Sylvester.= John Sylvester, the translator of Du Barta’s
“Divine Week and Works,” so styled on account of his harmonious
verse.
=Simple Life.= A term which has come into vogue, both in England and
America, since the publication of the Rev. Charles Wagner’s
remarkable book “The Simple Life,” in advocacy of plain living,
three or four years ago.
=Single-speech Hamilton.= The sobriquet of William Gerard Hamilton,
Chancellor of the Exchequer in Ireland. He delivered on 13th
November 1775 a speech which electrified the House, but after that
memorable first effort he never spoke again.
=Sing Small.= A corruption of “Sink Small,” meaning to be lowered in the
estimation of those to whom one has made a vain boast.
=Sinking Fund.= One that provides for the annual reduction of a National
Debt.
=Sinner-saved Huntingdon.= William Huntingdon, the theologian and
preacher, who, having led a wild life in his youth, made amends for
these delinquencies in the full vigour of manhood.
=Sirree.= A vulgar American corruption of “Sir,” corresponding to the
old English “Sirrah.” Originating at New York, it is now quite a
common thing for people in the States generally to answer: “Yes,
sirree,” and “No, sirree.”
=Sise Lane.= A corruption of St Osyth’s Lane, after an ancient church in
it, now removed.
=Sixteen String Jack.= Jack Rann, the highwayman, hanged in 1791, so
called from the sixteen tags he wore on the knees of his breeches.
=Six-shooter.= An Americanism for a six-chambered revolver.
=Skagerrack.= Expresses the crooked strait between the _Skagen_, the
plural of the Gothic _skaga_, a promontory, between Jutland and
Norway.
=Skald.= An ancient northern bard or minstrel. The word is Scandinavian
for “poet.”
=Skied.= An artists’ term for a picture hung on the highest row, just
under the ceiling, at any exhibition, where no one can look at it
closely.
=Skinner Street.= Stands on land belonging to the Skinners’ Company.
=Skylarking.= Originally an American seaman’s term for rough sport among
the ship’s rigging and tops.
=Sky Parlor.= An Americanism for an attic.
=Sky Pilot.= An American naval expression for a ship’s chaplain. The
allusion is obvious.
=Sky-scraper.= The name given in the United States to a building of
lofty proportions, often running to as many as thirty storeys.
Viewing these from Brooklyn Bridge it would really seem as if the
New Yorkers were anxious to scour the heavens out of their top
windows.
=Sky Sign.= A structure on the roof of a house of business for the
purposes of a bold advertisement. This Transatlantic innovation has
within the last few years been interdicted by order of the London
County Council.
=Slacker.= An Eton term for one who never takes part in games; he cannot
be coerced, and declines to exert himself in any way.
=Slate Club.= Originally a parochial thrift society whose members met in
the schoolroom, their contributions being _pro tem_ entered on
slates, conveniently at hand.
=Slick into it.= To do a thing right away, never pausing until it is
finished. As a variant of “Polish it off” this expression is rightly
employed, slick being derived from the German _schlicht_, polished,
clean.
=Sling.= An American mixed drink, so called on account of the different
ingredients slung into it.
=Sling your Hook.= Originally an abbreviated angler’s phrase: “Sling
your hook a little farther along, and then we shall both have more
room.”
=Slipper.= A shoe into which the foot is easily slipped, more
particularly among the Orientals, who dispense with the back leather
clasping the heel.
=Sloane Square.= After Sir Hans Sloane, the original owner of the
estate, whose daughter became by marriage the first Countess of
Cadogan.
=Slope.= To run away with expedition, as it were down the slope of a
hill.
=Smile.= An Americanism for a “drink.” Unlike the common run of
Americanisms, there is warranty for the term. When drinking their
native beverage, “pulque,” the Mexicans look at one another, and
smile. This custom has obtained with them ever since Montezuma
gulped down this tipple offered to him by the hand of his daughter.
See “Cocktail.”
=Smithfield.= A corruption of “Smoothfield,” a fine tract of meadow land
on which mediæval tournaments were held, likewise horse races.
=Smith of Antwerp.= Quentin Matsys, the celebrated painter, who began
life as a blacksmith.
=Smalls.= In theatrical parlance “the small towns.”
=Smart Set.= Originally an Americanism for the exclusive fashionable set
of Boston society. The term has latterly travelled over to these
shores, and the Smart Set of West End London does not appear to be
beloved by Father Bernard Vaughan.
=Snapshot.= An Americanism for a photograph taken instantaneously with a
portable camera. “Snap” is, however, a good old English word. We
speak of a person being “snapped off” by disease--_i.e._ carried off
suddenly.
=Sneesh-box.= Scottish for a snuff-box.
=Snob.= This term arose out of the expressions on the part of the vulgar
whenever a conceited person who aped gentility was encountered:
“He’s a nob,” “He’s not a nob,” or “He wants to make people believe
he’s a nob,” until they resulted in the simple exclamation “Snob.”
Such a word having once been established as the antithesis of “Nob,”
a shoemaker merited the description of a Snob because his work was
confined to the pedal extremities instead of the person’s head.
=Snow Hill.= A corruption of “Snore Hill,” so called because travellers
by the stage-coach from Guildford were generally snoring by the time
they reach their destination at the hill foot, “The Saracen’s Head.”
=Soaker.= Both in England and America this term denotes a habitual
drunkard, soaked in liquor.
=Soane Museum.= This magnificent but little known collection of works of
Art was acquired by Sir John Soane, the antiquary, at his residence
in Lincoln’s Inn Fields, where, subject to certain seasonal
restrictions, it may be visited by anyone.
=Sociable.= An open carriage with two seats, thus admitting of its
riders being face to face.
=Socialists.= A term of wide meaning, but according to its modern
acceptation synonymous with “Levellers,” the adopted name of the
malcontents of the time of Charles I., who sought to reduce society
to a common level.
=Society Islands.= Named by Captain Cook in compliment to the Royal
Society.
=Society of Jesus.= See “Jesuits.”
=Socinians.= The followers of Lælius Socinus, an Italian theologian of
the sixteenth century. They held the same views as the modern
“Unitarians.”
=Sock and Buskin.= The drama, alluding to the low and high shoe or
sandal worn respectively by comic and tragic actors in the theatre
of the ancients. The _soccus_ was a simple shoe, whereas the
_brossquin_, a term remotely derived from the Greek _bursa_, a hide,
extended to the knee, and was, moreover, two or three inches thick
in the sole to increase the height of the performer.
=Sod.= A north country term for a mean, ignorant fellow, no better than
a lout or clodhopper, in allusion to the sod of agriculture.
=Soft Soap.= Flattery, because, unlike the ordinary kind, soft soap is
easily rubbed in.
=Soho.= A name pleasantly recalling the days when, prior to the
sixteenth century, the whole of London westward of Drury Lane was
open country. _So ho_ was the cry of the huntsmen when a hare broke
cover, expressing the Norman-French for “See! Hie! (after him).”
=Soirée.= A sociable evening party, so called from the French _soir_,
evening.
=Soldier of Fortune.= A soldier without fortune who seeks to make one by
enlisting in any service which holds out the prospect of good pay.
=Solid Straight.= Another name for a “Straight Drink.”
=Somerset.= Described in Anglo-Saxon days as _Suthmorset_, the “South
Moor Settlement.”
=Somerset House.= Covers the site of the palatial residence of Edward
Seymour, Duke of Somerset, the Lord Protector of Edward VI. On the
sequestration of his estates in 1552 this passed to the Crown, and
became a virtual royal residence. Here the body of James I. lay in
state; here too the queens of Charles I. and Charles II. took up
their abode. The present edifice dates from 1766.
=Somers Town.= From Lord Somers, the owner of the estate.
=Sorbonne.= After its founder Robert de Sorbon, a canon of Cambrai in
1252.
=Souchong.= A species of black tea called by the Chinese _se-ou-chong_,
“small, good quality.”
=Soudan.= Properly “Suden,” from the Arabic _Belad-ez-Suden_, “district
of the blacks.”
=Southampton.= The south town on the Ant or Hantone. See “Hampshire.”
=Southampton Buildings.= Marks the site of Southampton House, in which
lived and died the last Earl of Southhampton, Lord Treasurer of
Charles II.
=Southampton Street.= After one of the family titles of the Duke of
Bedford, the great ground landlord.
=South Audley Street.= See “Audley Street.”
=Southgate.= See “New Southgate.”
=Southwark.= A name which points to the Danish rule in England. The
earliest London bridge of wood having been built in 1014, or two
years before Canute seized upon the throne, this monarch took up his
residence on the south bank of the Thames, and holding his Court
there, styled it _Sydrike_, the Norse for “South Kingdom.” His
successors also affected the Surrey side; as we know, Hardicanute
died of a surfeit at Lambeth. By the Anglo-Saxons under Edward the
Confessor the Danish _Sydrike_ was rendered _Suthwerk_, or South
Fortification, whence we have derived the name in its present form.
=Southwick Crescent.= After Southwick Park, the country seat of the
Thistlewaytes, at one time joint lessees of the manor of Paddington.
=Sovereign.= So called because when first struck, in the reign of Henry
VIII., this gold coin had upon it a representation of that sovereign
in his royal robes.
=Sovereign Pontiff.= The superior title of the Pope. See “Pontiff.”
=Spa.= From the town of the same name (which expresses the Flemish for
“fountain”) in Belgium, the fashionable Continental resort during
the seventeenth century.
=Spa Fields.= From an ancient public resort known as the “London Spa,”
in connection with a medicinal well discovered during the thirteenth
century. An account of the “Spa Fields Chapel,” originally a
theatre, purchased by the Countess of Huntingdon, the name has
survived to our own time.
=Spagnoletto.= See “Lo Spagnoletto.”
=Spain.= Called by the Carthaginians “Hispania,” from the Punic _span_,
rabbit, on account of the wild rabbits which abounded in the
peninsula. See “Iberia.”
=Spaniards.= This famous “house of call” for pedestrians across Highgate
Heath was originally the private residence of the Spanish Ambassador
to the Court of James I.
=Spaniel.= From _Hispaniola_, the old name of Hayti Island, in the West
Indies, whence this breed of Spanish dog was introduced to Europe.
=Spanish Main.= The ancient designation of the waters around the West
Indian Islands in the Caribbean Sea that rightly belonged to Spain.
=Spanish Place.= From the residence of the Spanish Ambassador during the
eighteenth century. The private chapel attached to this mansion
formed the nucleus of the present Catholic church.
=Sparking.= An Americanism for “courting.” There may be warranty for
this in relation to “the spark of affection.”
=Spa Road.= From a long-forgotten spa or mineral well in this portion of
Bermondsey.
=Spa Water.= Natural mineral waters drawn from a “Spa” or well.
=Speaker.= The official designation of the President of the House of
Commons, to whom technically, the Members address themselves, though
as a matter of fact, they address the country at large through the
medium of the Press. Since he never speaks himself, except to rule a
point of order, his title is a misnomer.
=Spencer.= A short overjacket introduced by the Earl of Spencer. This
nobleman made a wager that he would set a new fashion by appearing
abroad in any style of garment, however hideous it might be. He won
his bet, for “Spencers” became popular.
=Specs.= Short for “spectacles.”
=Spelling Bee.= The name given to a competitive examination, in spelling
in American schools, and later introduced in the cities as a
fashionable pastime. From the States it reached England about a
quarter of a century ago. The term “Bee” is essentially
Transatlantic, being employed in the sense of a “hive” for any
assemblage of workers--_e.g._ “a Sewing Bee.”
=Spindle City.= Lowell in Massachusetts, so called on account of its
numerous cotton factories.
=Spinet.= An early form of pianoforte, so called because it was played
upon exclusively by unmarried females, as a relaxation from the
labours of the spindle.
=Spinster.= A maiden lady, so called from the distaff or spindle, the
regular occupation of an unmarried female.
=Spiritualist.= One who cherishes a belief in the power of communicating
with departed spirits through the instrumentality of a Medium.
=Spitalfields.= The derivation of this name is generally given as from
an ancient priory of “St Mary of the Spittle.” This is wrong. There
may have been such a priory, but if so, like the present parish
church, its designation arose out of the “spital,” or hospital in
the sense of an almshouse, founded in the fields for the poor by
Walter Brune and his wife during the reign of Richard Cœur de
Lion.
=Spithead.= This famous roadstead, so eminently adapted for naval
reviews, received its name from being situated at the head of the
“spit” or sandbank which extends along the coast for three miles.
=Spitzbergen.= Danish for “sharp-pointed mountains,” relative to the
mountain peaks in these islands.
=Spook.= Expresses the Dutch for “ghost.” Introduced to the United
States by the early settlers of New York, this term has obtained
currency on both sides of the Atlantic in connection with
Spiritualism.
=Spooning.= This word is a play on “billing and cooing.” Courting
couples in the act of whispering “soft nothings” have their mouths
in such close contact that it resembles the manner of a mother bird
feeding her young brood.
=Sporting Women.= An Americanism for “gay women.”
=Spouting.= Colloquial for public speaking, because the orator indulges
in a constant flow of rhetoric, like water issuing from a pump
spout.
=Sprat Day.= 9th November, the opening of the London sprat-selling
season.
=Spread Eagle.= An inn sign adopted from the arms of Germany, indicative
of the fact that the wines of that country were to be had on the
premises.
=Spreads himself.= Said of one in America who makes an ostentatious
display of self-conceit. The allusion is to a peacock spreading its
tail feathers to their utmost capacity.
=Spring Gardens.= So called because at this north-eastern entrance to St
James’s Park unwitting pedestrians were suddenly drenched by a spray
of water through stepping on a hidden spring. This was considered
fine sport for the gallants who looked on during the Restoration
period.
=Spring Heel Jack.= The sobriquet of the eccentric Marquis of Waterford,
who about a century ago cultivated the habit of frightening people
after nightfall by springing upon them out of obscure corners and
alleys. It was said that terror of the streets had steel springs
fitted to his heels for the purpose.
=Square Meal.= An Americanism for a full meal, which can only be enjoyed
at the table, in contradistinction to a snack at a luncheon bar.
=Squatter.= Literally one who squats down on land to which he has no
legal title.
=Squaw.= Algonquin for an Indian woman.
=Stafford.= The county town of the shire derived this name from the
ancient mode of fording the River Sow, upon which it stands, by
means of staves or stilts.
=Stage-coach.= So called from the stages or degrees of the whole
journey, at each of which the coach pulled up to change horses and
refresh the travellers.
=Staines.= From the Saxon _stane_, stone, the boundary mark set up
beside the Thames, bearing date 1280, and the inscription: “God
preserve the City of London.” This defined the western limits of
jurisdiction claimed by the Thames Conservancy or Water Board.
=Stand Sam.= An Americanism for to “stand treat,” which originated among
the soldiers during the Civil War. When billeted upon the people
they demanded liquor by wholesale, saying that “Uncle Sam” would pay
for it, and it was everyone’s duty to stand Sam. See “Uncle Sam.”
=Stanhope.= An open carriage named in compliment to the Earl of
Stanhope, author and politician.
=Stanhope Gate.= This entrance to Hyde Park, in Park Lane, received its
name from Philip Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield, residing at
Chesterfield House close by.
=Staples Inn.= Properly “Staplers’ Inn,” the ancient Hall of the
Woolstaplers, styled Merchants of the Staple.
=Star and Garter.= An inn or tavern sign commemorative of the
institution of the Order of the Garter by Edward III.
=Star Chamber.= This historic court received its name not from the stars
decorating the ceiling, as generally stated, but because it was the
ancient depository of the _Starra_, or Jewish records, at the order
of Richard I.
=Start your Boots.= An Americanism for “Be off!” “Walk away.”
=Starvation Dundas.= The sobriquet of Henry Dundas, created Lord
Melville, owing to his constant repetition of the word “Starvation”
in the course of a debate on American affairs in 1775.
=State of Spain.= New Jersey. After the battle of Waterloo Joseph
Bonaparte, the brother of Napoleon I., fled to New Jersey, and,
settling on an estate at Borderstown, gathered so many Frenchmen and
Spaniards around him that the Philadelphians regarded the people of
this state generally as Spaniards and foreigners. At this time
Joseph Bonaparte was nominally King of Naples and of Spain.
=Stationer.= This term was not derived from “Stationery,” since the
latter grew out of the former. Ancient so-called booksellers were of
two kinds: the itinerants, and the stallholders in open market. Both
dealt in such books as were known at the time--hornbooks and the
like--but principally in writing materials, and as the stationery
booksellers had a more varied assortment than the pedlars, pen, ink,
and paper eventually received the name of “stationery,” and their
vendors that of “stationers.”
=Steelyard.= The name given to a weighing machine on which a single
weight is moved along a graduated beam. This has no reference to a
“yard” measure, but to the ancient Steelyard near London Bridge,
where the German merchants of old landed, weighed, and sold their
fine steel.
=Steeplechase.= This term originated in a race by a party of
unsuccessful fox hunters, who agreed to run a race to the village
church, the steeple of which was visible a couple of miles away, the
one who touched its stones with his whip first being declared the
winner.
=Stepney.= A corruption of “Stebenhithe,” after the owner of a hithe or
wharf on this portion of the Thames bank in Anglo-Saxon days.
=Sterling Money.= That originally coined in this country by the
“Esterlings,” the name given to the people of the Hanse Towns in the
eastern portion of Germany, at the invitation of King John. The
purity of the Esterling coinage was above reproach, whereas that of
England anterior to the mission of the Hansa merchants to reform it
had long become debased.
=Sterling Silver.= Genuine silver in its natural purity as opposed to
“German Silver,” an alloy of copper, nickel, and zinc first made in
Germany. See “Sterling Money.”
=Stick a Pin there.= An Americanism for “make a note of it as a
reminder.” Dressmakers always stick a pin to mark the place where
material is to be stitched or taken in.
=Stiletto.= Expresses the diminutive of the Italian _stilo_, a dagger.
=Stingo.= See “Yorkshire Stingo.”
=Stock.= This flower received its name from the circumstance that it was
largely sold in the Stocks Market (so called on account of a pair of
stocks that stood there), on part of the site of which the Mansion
House was erected in 1737.
=Stock Exchange.= For the application of the term “Stock” to money, see
“Government Stock.”
=Stockwell.= From an ancient well discovered in a _stoke_ or wood.
=Stoke Newington.= Expresses the new town in the meadow adjacent to a
_stoke_, or wood, in reference to “Enfield Chase.” See “New
Southgate.”
=Stonecutter Street.= From the lapidaries who congregated here in
ancient days.
=Stone Jug.= See “In the Jug.”
=Stones End.= See “Stony Street.”
=Stonewall Jackson.= This sobriquet of General Jackson originated with
General Lee during the American Civil War. Rallying his troops after
the battle of Bull Run, he exclaimed, pointing in the direction with
his sword: “There is Jackson, standing like a stone wall!”
=Stony Street.= So called from the nature of this portion of the great
Roman highway to Dover, in continuation of “Watling Street,” north
of the Thames.
=Store.= An Americanism for a shop or warehouse.
=Storey’s Gate.= Marks the site of the residence of Edward Storey,
keeper of the royal aviary of Charles II. in that portion of St
James’s Park known as Birdcage Walk.
=Stormy Petrel.= A sea-bird, the appearance of which is regarded as a
portent of storms. Its Italian name, _Petrillo_, expresses the
diminutive of Peter, in allusion to St Peter, who walked on the sea,
because, instead of flying in the air, this bird habitually skims on
the surface of the water.
=Storthing.= From the Norse _stor_, great, and _thing_, court, the
Norwegian and Swedish House of Assembly.
=Stout.= This black alcoholic beverage is so called because it contains
more body and nourishment than ale or beer.
=Stradivarius.= A violin made by the celebrated Antonio Stradivari of
Cremona; generally abbreviated into “Strad.”
=Straight Drink.= An Americanism for a drink of pure, undiluted spirit.
=Strand.= The name given to the north bank of the Thames (from the Norse
_strönd_, shore, border) in days when, with the exception of a few
princely houses dotted here and there, the whole of this portion of
London was open country.
=Straphanger.= A term which has come into vogue since the introduction
of electrified railways, the trains being so crowded in the morning
and evening that straps are provided for standing passengers to
cling to _en route_.
=Strasburg.= This name was first heard of in the fifth century,
expressing the German for a fortified town on the _strass_ or
_strata_, the great Roman highway into Gaul.
=Stratford.= From the Latin _strata_, road, way; that portion of the old
Roman highway where the River Lea had to be forded. In Chaucer’s
time this little town, situated a long distance out of London, was
described as “Stratford-a-te-Bow,” in allusion to “Bow Bridge.”
=Stratford Place.= After Edward Stratford, the second Lord Aldborough,
who leased the ground for building purposes from the Corporation of
the City of London in 1775.
=Stratton Street.= After Lord Berkeley of Stratton, the owner of the
district now comprised in Mayfair, _temp._ Charles I.
=Strenuous Life.= The antithesis of the “Simple Life.”
=Stuarts.= This dynasty received its name from the fact that Walter, the
Lord High Steward of Scotland, married the daughter of King Robert
the Bruce. Since this Walter was the sixth of his line honoured with
such a position, he was said to belong to the Stewards, which,
eventually corrupted into “Stuarts,” resulted in a family name.
=Stumped.= To have no money left. See “Stump up.”
=Stump Orator.= One who harangues a crowd from the stump of a tree.
=Stump Speech.= A term popularised in this country through the minstrel
entertainment, being an extempore speech delivered to the Negroes of
the southern states from the stump of a tree.
=Stump the Country.= Colloquial for an electioneering campaign, derived
from the practice of political agents in the United States
addressing the people at large from a convenient tree stump.
=Stump up.= Originally an Americanism for “put down your money.” After
delivering a speech for a benevolent object the “Stump Orator”
stepped down, and the people around laid their contributions on the
tree stump.
=Suabia.= See “Servia.”
=Sub.= Short for “subsidise,” or to draw something in advance of one’s
salary.
=Sub Rosa.= “Under the Rose”--_i.e._ strictly between ourselves. It was
the custom of the Teutons when they assembled at a feast, to suspend
a rose from the ceiling as a reminder that whatever might be said
concerning their absent friends should not be repeated.
=Subtle Doctor.= Duns Scotus, the schoolman and prince of
metaphysicians, whose subtlety of reasoning has never been equalled
in ancient or modern times.
=Sucked in.= An expression derived from “Buying a pig in a poke.” See
“Let the Cat out of the Bag.”
=Sucker State.= Illinois, so called from the Galena lead miners, who
disappeared during the winter and returned to Galena in the spring,
when the sucker-fish in the Fevre River abounded. The people of this
state are accordingly styled “Suckers.”
=Suffolk.= A corruption of “South Folk,” the inhabitants of the southern
division of East Anglia.
=Suffolk Lane.= From the ancient town house of the Dukes of Suffolk.
=Suffolk Street.= From Suffolk House, the residence of the Earls of
Suffolk in former days.
=Suffragette.= If this latter-day term possesses any etymological
significance whatever, it expresses the diminutive of one who claims
the suffrage or the right, from the Latin _suffragio_, to vote. A
suffragette is, in brief, a woman who ought to know better. Eager to
take upon herself the responsibilities of citizenship on a common
footing with the male orders of creation, she cannot but shirk those
which rightly belong to her own state.
=Sulky.= A two-wheeled carriage for a single person, so called from the
popular idea at the time of its introduction that anyone who wished
to ride alone could not be otherwise than morose and sulky in his
disposition.
=Sumatra.= From the Arabic _Simatra_, “happy land.”
=Sumner Street.= After Dr Sumner, Bishop of Winchester, one of the last
occupants of Winchester House in this neighbourhood.
=Sun.= An inn sign after the heraldic device of Richard II.
=Sunday.= The first day of the week, dedicated in the Scandinavian
mythology to sun-worship.
=Sun-down.= An Americanism for “sunset.”
=Sunflower.= So called from the form and colour of its flower. See
“Heliotrope.”
=Sunnites.= The orthodox Mohammedans, who accept the _Sunna_, or
collective traditions, equally with the Koran.
=Sunset Land.= Arizona, on account of its glorious sunsets.
=Supers.= In theatrical parlance short for “supernumeraries,” those who
form the stage crowds, but have no individual lines to speak.
=Supper.= A term which has survived the changes of time. We still invite
a friend to “sup” with us, but the repast is more or less a
substantial one. Anciently the last meal of the day consisted only
of soup.
=Surrey.= From the Anglo-Saxon _Suth-rey_, south of the river--_i.e._
the Thames.
=Surrey Street.= After the town mansion and grounds of the Howards,
Dukes of Norfolk and Earls of Arundel and Surrey.
=Suspenders.= An Americanism for trouser braces.
=Sussex.= The territory of the _Suth-seaxe_, or South Saxons, under the
Heptarchy.
=Sutton Place.= After Thomas Sutton, founder of the Charter House, whom
the good folk of Hackney were proud to number among their residents
on this spot.
=Swallow Street.= It is difficult to imagine that this once merited the
name of “Slough Street,” on account of its miry condition; but such
is the fact.
=Swan Alley.= From the ancient town house of the Beauchamps, whose crest
was a swan.
=Swan-Upping.= The name given from time immemorial by the Vintners’
Company to their annual up-Thames visitation of the swans belonging
to them for the purpose of marking their bills with two nicks, by
way of distinguishing them from the royal swans, that have five
nicks.
=Swan with two Necks.= An ancient London inn sign, corrupted from “The
Swan with two Nicks,” in compliment to the Vintners’ Company. See
“Swan-Upping.”
=Sweating.= A word used in the original Biblical sense, and applied to
the unhealthy conditions which obtain among the denizens of the East
End of London, specifically the Jewish tailors, numbers of whom work
together in the fœtid atmosphere of a single small room.
=Swedenborgians.= The followers of Emmanuel Swedenborg, the Swedish
mystic. Prior to 1719, when his family became ennobled, his real
name was Svedborg.
=Swedish Nightingale.= Jenny Lind Goldschmidt, the rage of musical
London, who died in 1887.
=Sweepstake.= Money staked on a race by different persons, the fortunate
winner among whom takes the whole amount, literally at one sweep.
=Sweetbriar.= Expresses a “fragrant thorn.”
=Sweetheart.= A corruption of “Sweetard,” the suffix _ard_ expressing
the intensitive in many class names, such as “Dotard,” “Bastard,”
etc.
=Swell.= Slang for one of the upper classes, no doubt suggested by the
phrase: “The bloated aristocracy.” Also applied to an overdressed
person puffed out with the idea of his own importance.
=Switches.= An Americanism for ladies’ hair curlers, fringes, and other
hirsute appendages.
=Switzerland.= The English form of the Austrian Schwyz and German
Schweitz, originally the name of the three forest cantons whose
people threw off the Austrian yoke and asserted the independence of
the whole country.
=Switzerland of America.= West Virginia, so called on account of its
mountains.
=Sworn Brothers.= An ancient legal phrase signifying that two friends
had entered into a solemn compact to lend mutual aid and protection
and share each other’s fortunes. This custom was of Scandinavian
origin.
=Sydenham.= Expresses the home or family settlement in the south.
=Symmetrion Girl.= See “Sandow Girl.”
T
=Tabard.= The famous inn sign in Southwark immortalised by Chaucer’s
“Canterbury Pilgrims,” from the ancient tunic with wide flap sleeves
still worn by the heralds.
=Tableaux Vivants.= French for “living pictures,” specifically the
realisation of a celebrated painting or a scene from history by a
group of persons.
=Table d’Hôte.= Most people are under the impression that this term
means a dinner as served at a hotel. This is erroneous. Its literal
signification is “the table of the host.” Until quite modern days a
traveller who desired to be served with a meal at an inn had to take
it with the landlord at his own table.
=Taboo.= Strictly speaking, there is no such word as “tabooed,” yet we
generally find it employed in the place of “taboo.” The latter is
the European rendering of the Polynesian _tapu_, signifying a thing
reserved or consecrated to the use of one person. For a South Sea
Islander to exclaim _tapu_ when he sees anything that he fancies, is
tantamount to saying “I claim this thing; anyone else who touches it
shall die.” Amongst ourselves a subject which is _taboo_ must not be
discussed.
=Taffy.= The generic name for a Welshman, corrupted from Davy, which is
short for David, the most common Christian name of the country, in
honour of St David.
=Tagus.= The Phœnician for “river of fish.”
=Tailor.= From the French _tailleur_, based upon the verb _tailler_, to
cut.
=Take a Back Seat.= An Americanism for “You have outdone me; I’ll retire
from the front row.”
=Take a Rise out of Him.= To take an undue advantage, to benefit by a
mean action. This originated in fly-fishing; when a fish sees the
fly held out of the water it rises to seize the coveted prey, and is
caught itself.
=Takes the Cake.= An expression derived from the Cake Walking
competitions of the Negroes in the southern states of the American
Union. A cake is placed on the ground, and the competitors, male and
female, walk around it in couples. Those who disport themselves most
gracefully take the cake as their prize.
=Take your Hook.= See “Sling your Hook.”
=Talbot.= An inn sign in compliment to the Earls of Shrewsbury.
=Talbotype.= A process of photography, by means of the Camera Obscura,
invented by Fox Talbot in 1839.
=Talking Shop.= The nickname for the House of Commons. See “Parliament.”
=Tally Ho!= From the Norman hunting cry _Taillis au_ (“To the coppice”),
raised when the stag made for its native place of safety.
=Tallyman.= One who supplies goods on the weekly instalment system, so
called originally from the acknowledgments for payments that he gave
to his customers having to “tally” or agree with the entries in his
book. Why such a one should be ashamed of his old-time designation,
and now style himself a “Credit Draper,” can only be explained on
the ground that the tallyman is in bad odour with the husbands of
the guileless women whom he systematically overcharges. See
“Government Stock.”
=Tammany Ring.= The name given to certain officials of the Democratic
party in New York who in 1871 were punished for having during a long
series of years plundered the people wholesale. Tammany Hall was the
place where they held their meetings. This was originally the
headquarters of a benevolent society, but it degenerated into a
political club. By way of accounting for the designation, it may be
added that Tammany or Tammenund was the name of a famous Indian
chief of the Delaware tribe, greatly beloved by his people.
=Taming the Alps.= A phrase which has lately come into vogue through the
popular solicitude to prevent intrepid amateurs from climbing the
Alps without the assistance of local guides.
=Tantalise.= A word based upon the fable of Tantalus, a son of Jupiter,
who, because he betrayed his father’s secrets, was made to stand up
to his chin in water, with branches of luscious fruit over his head,
but when he wished to drink or to eat the water and the fruit
receded from him.
=Tapestry.= From the French _tapisserie_, based on the Latin _tapes_, a
carpet.
=Tapster.= The old name for a tavern-keeper or his assistant, applied in
days when taps were first fitted to barrels for drawing off liquor.
=Tarantella.= A dance invented for the purpose of inducing perspiration
as a supposed remedy for the poisonous bite of the Tarantula spider,
which received its name from the city of Taranto in Italy, where its
baneful effects were first noted.
=Tarlatan.= From Tarare in France, the chief seat of the manufacture.
=Tar Heels.= The nickname of the people of South Carolina, relative to
the tar industry in its lowland forests.
=Tarragona.= Called by the Romans _Tarraco_, after the name given to the
city by the Phœnicians, _Tarchon_, “citadel.”
=Tarred with the same Brush.= This expression originated in the custom
of marking the sheep of different folds formerly with a brush dipped
in tar, but nowadays more generally in red ochre.
=Tart.= A punning abbreviation of “Sweetheart.”
=Tasmania.= After Abel Jansen Tasman, the Dutch navigator, who
discovered it in 1642.
=Tattersall’s.= After Richard Tattersall, who established his famous
horse repository near Hyde Park Corner in 1786; on 10th April 1865
it was removed to its present locale at Knightsbridge.
=Taunton.= The town on the River Tone.
=Tavern.= From the Latin _taberna_, a hut of boards.
=Tavistock.= The stockaded place on the Tavy.
=Tavistock Street.= After the ancestor of the present great ground
landlord, Thomas Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton, Marquis of
Tavistock, and Duke of Bedford, the father of the celebrated Rachel
who became the wife of Lord William Russell, beheaded in 1683. The
square and place similarly designated are included in the ducal
estate.
=Tawdry.= A word derived from the cheap, showy lace anciently sold at
the annual fair of St Audrey in the Isle of Ely. This was called St
Audrey’s lace, afterwards corrupted into Tawdrey. The name of St
Audrey itself was a corruption of St Ethelreda.
=Tay.= From the Celtic _tain_, river.
=Tearless Victory.= Plutarch in his “Lives” gave this name to the great
victory won by Archimandus, King of Sparta, over the Arcadians and
Argives, B.C. 367, without the loss of a single Spartan soldier.
=Teetotaler.= This designation of a total abstainer arose out of the
stammering address at Preston in September 1833 of one Richard
Turner, who concluded by saying: “Nothing but t-t-t-t-total
abstinence will do--that or nowt!”
=Teetotum.= A coined term for a Working Man’s Total Abstinence Club,
suggested by the word “Teetotaler.”
=Teignmouth.= Situated at the mouth, or in the estuary of, the Teign,
which name is a variant of the Celtic _tain_, river.
=Tell that to the Marines.= In the old days, before the bluejackets
proved themselves as good fighting men on land as at sea, the
Marines were an indispensable adjunct to the Navy, but as time hung
heavily upon their hands they were always ready to listen to a
story. Finding that they were easily gullible, the sailors loved to
entertain them with the most extraordinary yarns, and, while on
shore, if they heard a wonderful story themselves they made up their
minds to “tell that to the Marines.”
=Temple.= The seat of the “Knights Templars” in this country down to the
time of the dissolution of their Order by Edward II. in 1313.
=Temple Bar.= The ancient gateway, at the western extremity of Fleet
Street, defining the “liberty” of the city of London on that side,
and originally set up as the ordinary entrance to the London house
of the Knights Templars. Taken down in 1878, the “Bar” now adorns
the park of Sir Henry Meux at Theobalds, Cheshunt, Herts.
=Tenement House.= An Americanism for a dwelling-house let off to
different families.
=Tennessee.= Indian for “river of the great bend.”
=Tent Wine.= A corruption of _vinto tinto_, the Spanish for a white wine
coloured.
=Terpsichorean Art.= After Terpsichore, one of the Nine Muses, who
presided over dancing.
=Terra-cotta.= Italian for “baked earth”--_i.e._ clay.
=Texas.= Indian for “the place of protection,” where a colony of French
refugees were kindly received in 1817.
=Thaler.= Originally called a Joachims-Thaler, because this German coin
was struck out of silver found in the thal, or dale, of St Joachim
in France about 1518. From this “Thaler” the term “Dollar” has been
derived.
=Thames.= To assert that this name has been derived from the Latin (?)
_Thamesis_, “the broad Isis,” or that it expresses the conjunction
of the Thame and the Isis, is ridiculous. The word is wholly Celtic,
from _tam_, smooth, and _esis_, one of the many variants of the
original _uisg_, water. It is quite true that that portion of our
noble river which flows past Oxford is called the Isis, but the name
is scholastic only, and cannot be found in any ancient charter or
historical document. _Thames_ simply means smooth water, or, if we
care to admit it, “the smooth Isis.”
=Thames Street.= Runs parallel to the river on the north bank.
=Thanet Place.= This _cul de sac_ at the eastern end of the Strand
received its name from the Earl of Thanet, the owner of the land
prior to 1780.
=Thavie’s Inn.= A range of modern buildings on the site of an ancient
appendage to Lincoln’s Inn, so called by the Benchers in honour of
John Thavie, an armourer, who when he died in 1348 left a
considerable amount of property to the parish church of St Andrew.
=Theobalds Road.= So called because James I. was wont to pass along it
on the way to his favourite hunting-seat at Theobalds in
Hertfordshire. See “Kingsgate Street.”
=Thespian Art.= After Thespis, the Father of the Greek Drama.
=Thirteen Cantons.= A tavern sign off Golden Square, complimentary to
the Cantons of Switzerland, at a time when Soho was as much a Swiss
colony as it is now French.
=Thomas Street.= In honour of Thomas Guy, the founder of the Hospital,
also named after him.
=Thomists.= Those who accepted the teaching of St Thomas Aquinas, in
opposition to that of John Duns Scotus relative to the Immaculate
Conception.
=Threadneedle Street.= A corruption of, first, “Thridneedle,” and later
“Three-Needle” Street, so called from the arms of the Needlemakers’
Company.
=Three Chairmen.= A tavern sign in Mayfair, this house being the regular
resort of gentlemen’s servants in the days when sedan-chairs were
fashionable.
=Three Exes.= The nickname of the 30th Regiment of Foot (XXX).
=Three Kings.= An inn sign derived from the Magi or Three Wise Men who
came to adore the new-born Saviour at Bethlehem.
=Three Men Wine.= The name borne by a very bad wine which requires two
men to hold the victim, while a third pours it down his throat.
=Three Nuns.= A tavern sign in Aldgate, reminiscent of the neighbouring
priory of the Nuns of St Clare in ancient times.
=Three Suns.= An inn sign derived from the device of Edward IV. as King
of England.
=Throgmorton Street.= After the wealthy London banker, Sir Nicholas
Throgmorton.
=Throw up the Sponge.= Originally a boxing expression. When a
prize-fighter had been badly bruised in the first round he often
declined the sponge offered to him by his second, or, in a sudden
fit, threw it up in the air, declaring he had had enough of it;
hence to “throw up the sponge” is to acknowledge oneself beaten.
=Thundering Legion.= The name ever afterwards borne by that Roman legion
which, A.D. 179, overthrew the power of the Alemanni by defeating
them during a thunderstorm, which was thought to have been sent to
them in answer to the prayers of the Christians.
=Thurlow Place.= After Lord Chancellor Thurlow, whose residence was in
Great Ormond Street, close by.
=Thursday.= The day of Thor, the God of Thunder, in the Scandinavian
mythology.
=Tied House.= A public-house owned or financed by a firm of brewers,
with the result that the nominal landlord is not allowed to
replenish his stock from any other brewer.
=Tierra del Fuego.= Spanish for “land of fire,” so called from a volcano
on the largest island which throws up flame and smoke visible a very
great distance out at sea.
=Tight.= Intoxicated, because a person in this state generally clutches
tight hold of a street lamppost or a convenient railing when unable
to walk home after a debauch.
=Tighten your Purse Strings.= See “Purse Strings.”
=Tilbury.= The ancient form of the name of the village two miles west of
Tilbury Fort was _Tillaburgh_, after one Tilla, a Saxon, of whom,
however, nothing is now known. A small two-wheeled gig without a
cover is called a Tilbury, after a London sportsman who introduced
it nearly a century ago.
=Tinker.= A corruption of “tinner,” or tin-worker. This has given rise
to the verb “to tinker,” which meant originally to hammer lightly at
a thing after the style a tinman, without being able to repair it in
a thoroughly workman-like manner.
=Tintoretto.= The better known name of the famous Italian painter,
Jacopo Robusti, because his father was a _tintore_, or dyer.
=Tobacco.= From _tobaco_, the inhaling tube of the North American
Indians. By the Spaniards alone has the original spelling of the
name, now given universally to the fragrant weed itself, been
preserved.
=Tobago Island.= So called by Columbus on account of its resemblance to
the inhaling tube of the Indians, the _tobaco_.
=Toddy.= From the Hindoo _taudi_, a stimulating beverage made from the
juice of various palm-trees.
=Toff.= A vulgar corruption of the University term “Tuft,” a young
nobleman who pays high fees and is distinguished by a golden tuft or
tassel on his cap.
=Toggery.= A term derived from the same source as “Togs.”
=Togs.= Slang for clothes, but originally derived from _toga_, the
characteristic male garment of the Romans.
=Tokay.= An excellent white wine produced in the district of the same
name in Upper Hungary.
=Tokenhouse Yard.= Marks the site of the ancient Token-House, which came
into existence through the insufficiency of small copper coinage. A
number of Nuremberg “tokens” having been introduced into this
country, tradesmen imported large quantities of them for purposes of
small (halfpenny and farthing) change, but instead of being kept in
circulation such tokens were afterwards exchanged by the inhabitants
of the city for their face value at the Token-House. About the same
time various municipalities throughout the country manufactured
their own tokens. The London Token-House was swept away by the Great
Fire and never rebuilt.
=Toledo.= From the Hebrew _H’toledoth_, “generations,” “families,”
relative to the Jewish founders of the city.
=Tom Folio.= The sobriquet of Thomas Rawlinson, the bibliomaniac.
=Tommy Atkins.= This general designation of an English soldier arose out
of the hypothetical name, “Thomas Atkins,” which at one time figured
in the Paymaster-General’s monthly statement of accounts sent to the
War Office. So much money claimed by “Thomas Atkins” meant, of
course, the regular pay for the rank and file.
=Tom Tidler’s Ground.= A corruption of “Tom the Idler’s Ground.”
=Tontine.= The name given to a system of reducing the State Loans in
France in 1653 after Lorenzo Tonti, a Neapolitan protegé of Cardinal
Mazarin, its projector. According to this system, when one
subscriber dies, the money accredited to him passes to the others,
until the last survivor inherits the whole amount.
=Tooley Street.= Originally “St Olaff Street” after the parish church
dedicated to St Olaff or Olave. This thoroughfare was in the time of
the Commonwealth known as “St Tulie Street,” of which its modern
name is an easy corruption.
=Toothpicks.= A nickname borne by the people of Arkansas on account of
the Bowie Knives carried by the early settlers.
=Topaz.= From _topazios_, after _Topazos_, the Greek name of an island
in the Red Sea where this gem was anciently
=Tories.= Originally, during the Restoration period, the nickname
bestowed by the Protestants on their religious and political
opponents. This was in derisive allusion to a band of outlaws that
infested the bog districts of Ireland, the word _toree_ being Gaelic
for a robber.
=Toronto.= Indian for “oak-trees beside the lake.”
=Torquatus.= See “Manlius Torquatus.”
=Torres Strait.= After the Spanish navigator, L. N. de Torres, who
discovered it in 1606.
=Torrington Square.= After the family name of the first wife of John,
the sixth Duke of Bedford, the ancestor of the great ground
landlord.
=Tothill Street.= A name which recalls the ancient manor of Tothill,
properly Toothill--_i.e._ beacon hill. Wherever _toot_ or _tot_
appears in a place-name, it points to the one-time existence of a
beacon.
=Totnes.= A corruption of “Toot Ness,” the beacon on the headland.
=Tottenham.= From “Totham,” a corruption of _Toot ham_, the house or
hamlet by the beacon.
=Tottenham Court Road.= So called ever since the days of Elizabeth
because it then led to “Tottenham Court.” This was an ancient manor,
originally belonging to St Paul’s, and held in the reign of Henry
III. by William de Tottenhall.
=Touched him on the Raw.= Reminded him of something which hurt his
feelings. This expression arose out of an ostler’s solicitude to
avoid a sore place on a horse while grooming him.
=Toulon.= The _Telonium_ of the Romans, so called after Telo Martius,
the tribune who colonised it.
=Tractarians.= Those Oxford men who assisted Dr Pusey with the
composition of the famous “Tracts for the Times,” as well as those
who accepted the opinions expressed therein.
=Trafalgar Square.= From the Nelson Column, set up in 1843, two years
before the square itself was laid out as it now exists.
=Traitors’ Gate.= The riverside entrance to the Tower of London reserved
for State prisoners convicted of high treason.
=Tramway.= An abbreviation of “Outram way,” after Benjamin Outram of
Derbyshire, who was the first to place his sleepers end to end the
whole length of the rails, instead of crosswise, as on our railways.
Long before this, however, the word “Tram” had been applied to a
coal waggon or truck in the colliery districts, while the rails on
which a vehicle ran bore the name of a “Tramroad.”
=Transformation Scene.= So called because in the good old days of
Pantomine the Fairy Queen was at this juncture of the entertainment
supposed to transform the chief characters of the “opening” into
Clown, Pantaloon, Harlequin, Columbine, and Policeman.
=Transvaal.= Expresses the territory beyond the Vaal River.
=Transylvania.= From the Latin _trans_, beyond, and _sylva_, wood; this
name was given by the Hungarians to the country beyond their wooded
frontier.
=Trappists.= A strict Order of Cistercian Monks, so called from their
original home at La Trappe in Normandy, established during the
twelfth century.
=Treacle Bible.= A rare version of the Scriptures, so called on account
of the rendering of the passage (Jeremiah viii. 22): “Is there no
balm in Gilead?” as “There is no more traicle at Gilead.”
=Trent.= Celtic for “winding river.”
=Tried in the Balance and Found Wanting.= An expression founded on the
belief of the ancient Egyptians that the souls of men were weighed
after death.
=Trilbies.= Colloquial for feet, because Trilby in the novel and the
play named after the heroine appears in bare feet.
=Trilby.= A soft felt hat of the kind popularised by the heroine of the
famous Haymarket Theatre play, _Trilby_, founded upon the late
George du Maurier’s equally famous novel of the same title.
=Trinidad Island.= The name given to it by Columbus as an emblem of the
Trinity, relative to its three mountain peaks which, when seen from
afar, he at first imagined rose from three different islands.
=Trinitarians.= Those who accept the doctrine of the Holy Trinity as
opposed to the Unitarians; also the original designation of the
“Crutched Friars,” or Friars of the Holy Trinity.
=Trinity House.= This had its origin in an ancient guild incorporated in
1529 under the title of “The Master-Wardens and Assistants of the
Guild, or Fraternity, or Brotherhood, of the Most Glorious and
Undivisible Trinity, and St Clement, in the parish of Deptford,
Stroud, in the County of Kent.” The present building dates from
1795.
=Trinity Sunday.= That which follows Whitsunday, pursuant to the good
old Catholic custom of allowing religious exercises, specifically
the partaking of the Holy Communion, to be performed within the
octave, or eight days, of a great feast.
=Tristan d’Acunha.= After the Portuguese navigator who discovered this
island in 1651.
=Trithing.= See “Riding.”
=Trump Street.= After the makers of trumpets, who, in the days of public
pageants and processions, here had their workshops.
=Trust.= Another word for a “Combine” or “Corner,” with this difference
that its members are pledged to stand by one another, and faithfully
maintain the high prices their action has brought about.
=Tudors.= This royal house received its name from Owen Tudor, a Welsh
soldier, who while stationed at Windsor, contracted a secret
marriage with Catherine, the widowed queen of Henry V.
=Tuesday.= In the Scandinavian mythology the day set apart for the
worship of _Tiw_, the God of War.
=Tuft.= See “Toff.”
=Tulle.= From the French town of the same name, where this fabric was
first made.
=Tumble to it.= This phrase is a vulgar perversion of “stumble upon
it”--_i.e._ the meaning or comprehension of a thing.
=Tunis.= Anciently _Tunentum_, after the _Tunes_, who peopled the
country.
=Turin.= Called by the Romans _Augusta Taurisonum_, the capital of the
_Taurini_.
=Turkestan.= Conformably to the Persian _stan_, the country of the
Turks.
=Turkey.= From “Turkia,” the Celtic suffix expressing the country of the
Turks. The bird of this name was long thought to be a native of
Turkey; it was, however, introduced to Europe from North America
early in the sixteenth century.
=Turnagain Lane.= So called because it ends at a high brick wall, and
the pedestrian has no alternative but to retrace his steps.
=Turnmill Street.= A name which recalls the days when an old mill, whose
sails turned with the wind, stood in the pleasant meadow.
=Turpentine State.= North Carolina, from the turpentine found in its
great pine forests.
=Turquoise.= From Turkey, the country where this precious stone was
first found.
=Tuscany.= The territory of the Etruscans.
=Tweed.= It is perfectly true that this cloth is fabricated in the
vicinity of the River Tweed, but the name is really a corruption of
“Twill,” which word, in an invoice sent to James Locke in London,
being blotted, looked like “tweed,” and the customer thought the
cloth might as well be called by that name as by its original.
=Twelfth Night.= That which brought the Christmas holidays and
festivities to a close in former days. In the morning the people
went to church to celebrate the Feast of the Epiphany, afterwards
they gave themselves up right merrily to indoor amusements.
=Twickenham.= When Pope resided in this pretty up-river village its name
was “Twitnam” for short, but it meant the same as of yore, a hamlet
located between two rivulets of the Thames. The word is Anglo-Saxon,
cognate with the modern German _zwischen_, between, and _heim_, a
home.
=Twill.= From the German _zwillich_, “trellis work,” so called from the
diagonal ribs distinguished on the surface of this cloth.
=Two Fours.= The 44th Regiment of Foot.
=Two Sevens.= The 77th Regiment of Foot.
=Two Twos.= The 22nd Regiment of Foot.
=Tyburn.= A corruption of _Twa-burne_, “two streams,” the one from
Bayswater, the other from Kilburn, which met on the spot where the
public executions formerly took place and the Marble Arch now
stands.
=Tyne.= Another variant of the Celtic _tain_, river.
U
=Uisquebaugh.= From _uisge_, water, and _beatha_, life, the national
drink of the Irish people. Out of this we have derived the English
term “Whisky.”
=Ukase.= From the Russian _ukasat_, to speak.
=Ukraine.= Expresses the Slavonic for a “frontier country.”
=Ultramarine.= Another name for “Saunders Blue,” introduced to England
from beyond the sea.
=Umber.= From Umbria in Italy, where this pigment was first obtained.
=Umbrella.= From the Latin _umbra_, a shade. The original function of
such an article was to act as a shelter against the scorching rays
of the sun, similar to those monster white or coloured umbrellas one
sees in a Continental market-place. It was Jonas Hanway who first
diverted it from its proper use. See “Hanway Street.”
=Uncle.= How this name came to be applied to a pawnbroker was as
follows:--Before the “spout” was introduced all those pledges which
consisted of clothing were attached to a very large book, or _uncus_
as it was called, conformably to the Latin description of the
article, since the Lombards were the earliest pawnbrokers of
history. When this _uncus_ could accommodate nothing more, the rope
from which it depended was unslung from the ceiling, and laid across
the shoulders of an assistant, who then carried the whole collection
to the store-rooms overhead. Hence an article which had been pledged
was said to have “Gone to the Uncus,” or, as the modern phrase has
it, “Gone to my Uncle’s.”
=Uncle Sam.= The national nickname of the United States. This arose out
of the initials “U.S.,” which the Government caused to be painted or
branded on all its stores just as the Government property in this
country is marked with a broad arrow. Since it happened that the
official whose duty it was to see this marking properly carried out
was known among his numerous acquaintance as “Uncle Sam,” the
general impression obtained that the letters really applied to him,
as evidence that the goods had passed through his hands. In this way
“Uncle Sam” bequeathed his name to a great nation.
=Uncle Sam’s Ice-box.= Alaska, so called on account of its northern
situation. Prior to the year 1867 this territory belonged to Russia.
=Undertaker.= Specifically one who in former days undertook to be
responsible for the custody of a corpse until the moment that it was
lowered into the grave. This was the _raison d’être_ of the two
“mutes” stationed by him at the door of the house by day and by
night as guards.
=Underwriter.= One who accepts the responsibility of insuring a vessel
or its merchandise by signing his name at the foot of the policy.
=Unionists.= Those who are opposed to Home Rule for Ireland; now
identified with the Conservative Party.
=Union Jack.= The first part of this name has, of course, reference to
the Union of England and Scotland in the person of James I., but the
application of the word “Jack” to our national flag is not so easily
disposed of. Nevertheless, reference to our note on “Jack-boots”
will afford the reader a key to the question. Twenty-six of such
“Jacques,” emblazoned with the arms of St George, were ordered by
Edward III. for one of his warships. Designed primarily for the
defence of his soldiers when in fighting array, they were placed in
a row along the low bulwarks while the vessel was sailing, just as
the Romans and the hardy Norsemen disposed of their shields at sea.
After this statement it should not be difficult to see how the Cross
of St George displayed on a _jacque_ lent its name at first to the
staff from which the English flag was flown, and later to the flag
itself.
=Unitarians.= Those who are opposed to the doctrine of the Trinity,
denying, as they do, the Godhead or divinity of Jesus Christ and the
Holy Ghost. This tenet was promulgated by Lælius Socinus, an Italian
theologian, in 1546.
=United Brethren.= Another name for the religious sect styled the
“Moravians.”
=University.= From the Latin _universitatis_, the whole. This word
expresses the various distinct colleges and halls at Oxford,
Cambridge, and elsewhere, incorporated by a royal charter as one
great educational centre.
=Unlearned Parliament.= See “Parliament of Dunces.”
=Unready.= See “Ethelred the Unready.”
=Up a Tree.= Completely cornered, yet defiant; the allusion is to the
refuge of a tree-branch against the attack of a bull stationed
beneath it.
=Upper Berkeley Street.= See “Berkeley Street.”
=Upper Crust.= A modern term for the aristocracy, because it was
formerly considered a mark of high honour to allow the most
distinguished guest to cut off the top of the loaf at table.
=Upper Seymour Street.= After the Seymours, from whom the Portmans,
owners of the estate, are descended.
=Upper Ten.= Short for “The Upper Ten Thousand,” which, at the time when
N. P. Willis first made use of the term, was the approximate number
of fashionables or really well-to-do in the city of New York.
=Uppertendom.= An Americanism for the aristocracy.
=Upper Thames Street.= The western portion of Thames Street between
London and Blackfriars Bridges.
=Up the Spout.= This expression requires no elucidating. Nevertheless,
there was a time when a pawnbroking establishment had not the
convenience of a “spout,” and because this was so, the
matter-of-fact tradesman earned for himself the endearing title of
“My Uncle.” See “Uncle.”
=Up to Snuff.= Said of one who has a keen scent for reckoning up his
neighbours.
=Uruguay.= Expresses the Brazilian for “the golden water.”
=Ural.= A Tartar word for “belt.”
=Usher.= From the old French _huisher_, door, signifies a doorkeeper.
=Usk.= A variant of the Celtic _uisg_, water.
=Ursulines.= An Order of nuns named after St Ursula, who suffered
martyrdom at Cologne in the tenth century.
=Utah.= After an Indian tribe, the Yuta or Utes, encountered in the
region so named.
=Utilitarianism.= A word implying “the happiness of the greatest
number.” In this sense it was first popularised by John Stuart Mill,
after Jeremy Bentham had promulgated a similar ethical religion
under the style of “Utility.”
=Utopia.= From the Greek _ou_, not, and _topos_, place, this compound
term signifies “nowhere,” “no such place.” Ideas and Systems are
said to be “Utopian” when they cannot be accepted by the average
reasoning mind.
V
=Valance.= From Valencia in Spain, where bed drapery was at one time
made for the supply of the world’s markets.
=Valencias.= Raisins grown in the Spanish province of Valencia, which
name, relative to the capital city, means “powerful, strong.”
=Valenciennes.= Lace made at the French town of the same name.
=Valentines.= See “St Valentine’s Day.”
=Valparaiso.= Expresses the Spanish for “Vale of Paradise.”
=Vamoose.= An Americanism for “decamp,” “run along,” “be off.” This had
its origin in the Spanish _vamos_, “let us go.”
=Vanbrugh Castle.= This castellated mansion at Blackheath was built by
Sir John Vanbrugh in 1717.
=Vancouver Island.= Discovered by Captain Vancouver while searching for
an inlet on the west coast of North America in 1792.
=Van Diemen’s Land.= The name first given by Tasman, its discoverer, in
1642, to what is now “Tasmania,” in compliment to the daughter of
the Dutch Governor of Batavia.
=Vandyke.= A pointed lace collar, always distinguished in the portraits
painted by Sir Anthony Vandyck. Also a peculiar shade of brown
colour used by him for his backgrounds.
=Vassar College.= Founded in the state of New York by Matthew Vassar in
1861 for the higher education of women. This might be said to
constitute the Girton College of the New World.
=Vaudeville.= The name given to a short, bright dramatic piece
interspersed with songs set to familiar airs, after Vaudevire, a
village in Normandy, where Olivier Basselin, the first to compose
such pieces, was born. The Vaudeville Theatre in the Strand was
built for entertainments of this class.
=Vauxhall.= After Jane Vaux, the occupant of the manor house in 1615.
This name, however, would seem to have been corrupted in modern
times, since the manor was originally held soon after the Norman
Conquest by Fulka de Breante. The manor house might consequently
have been in those far-off days described as “Fulkes Hall.”
=Venerable Bede.= The Saxon historian merited the surname of “Venerable”
because he was an aged man and also an ecclesiastic.
=Venezuela.= Finding that the Indian villages in this country were
uniformly built upon piles in the water, the Spaniards gave it their
native term for “Little Venice.”
=Venice.= After the _Veneti_, the early inhabitants of the district.
=Vernier.= After Pierre Vernier, the inventor of the instrument.
=Vere Street.= After the De Veres, owners of the estate before it passed
to the Harleys.
=Verger.= From the French _verge_, a rod, the name borne by the
custodian of a cathedral or minster, because in common with official
attendants, he formerly carried a rod or staff of office.
=Vermicelli.= Italian for “little worms.”
=Vermont.= A corruption of “Verd Mont,” in allusion to its green
mountains.
=Vermuth.= The white wine tinctured with bitter herbs appropriately
bears this name derived from the Anglo-Saxon _wermod_, wormwood.
=Verulam Buildings.= This portion of Gray’s Inn was named in honour of
Lord Bacon, created Baron Verulam and Viscount St Albans.
=Veto.= This word is Latin for “I forbid.”
=Vicar.= From the Latin _vicarius_, in place of another. See “Rector.”
=Vichy Water.= So called because drawn from the celebrated springs at
Vichy in France.
=Victoria.= The carriage of this name was introduced in 1838, the
coronation year of the late Queen Victoria. Much about the same time
the Australian colony so designated in her honour was first
colonised.
=Victoria Regia.= So called because it was brought to England from
Guiana soon after the accession of Queen Victoria.
=Victoria Street.= After Queen Victoria, in the early years of whose
reign it was cut through and built upon.
=Vienna.= From a small stream, the Wien, from which the city received
its German name.
=Vignette.= Expressing the French for a “little vine,” this name was
given to an early style of photograph, and also to a book engraving
that faced the title-page, on account of the vine leaves and
tendrils that surrounded it.
=Vigo Street.= In honour of the capture of Vigo by Lord Cobham in 1719,
shortly before this street was built upon.
=Viking.= From the Icelandic _vik_, a creek, the usual lurking-place of
the northern pirates.
=Villain.= Although signifying originally a mean, low fellow, but by no
means one of reprehensive morals as now, this term was applied to a
labourer on a farm or a country seat. To argue this point with the
humble day-labourer who trims the shrubs at a suburban villa in our
own time, would serve no useful purpose.
=Villiers Street.= One of the group of streets the names of which
perpetuate the memory of George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, whose
town mansion hereabouts was approached from the river by the old
water gate, still in existence.
=Vinegar.= From the French _vinaigre_, “sour wine.”
=Vinegar Bible.= So called from the substitution of the word “vinegar”
for “vineyard” in the headline to Luke xx., printed at the Clarendon
Press in 1717.
=Vinegar Yard.= Wherever this corrupted term is met with in London it
points to a “vineyard” originally belonging to a religious order.
That in Clerkenwell was attached to the Priory of the Knights of St
John of Jerusalem, that adjoining Drury Lane Theatre to St Paul’s
Convent in what is now Covent Garden.
=Vine Street.= Recalls the existence of a vineyard at Westminster and
off Piccadilly, anciently held by the abbots of the venerable pile
of St Peter’s at Westminster.
=Vintry.= This ward of the city of London was anciently the “place of”
the vintners, or wine merchants who came from Bordeaux.
=Virginals.= An early example of keyed musical instrument resembling the
pianoforte. Also this was played upon with some degree of skill by
Queen Elizabeth, the so-called “Virgin Queen,” and is said to have
given her name to the instrument. It was, however, well known long
before her time, having been used by nuns in convents to accompany
hymns to the Virgin.
=Virginia.= Named by Sir Walter Raleigh in honour of Elizabeth, the
“Virgin Queen.”
=Virginia Bible.= A translation of the Scriptures into the native tongue
of the Indians of the state of Virginia, first printed in 1661.
Copies are said to be worth at least £200.
=Virgin Mary’s Body Guard.= The 7th Dragoon Guards, because this
regiment once served under Maria Theresa of Austria.
=Voltaire.= The anagrammatic literary pseudonym of François Marie
Arouet, formed as follows:--“Arouet l. j.” (le jeune).
=Volume.= From the Latin _volvo_, I roll. The earliest documents or
writings consisted of long rolls of the Egyptian papyrus, and when
these were rolled up each one corresponded to what the moderns
called a volume. See “Roll Call.”
W
=Wadham College.= Founded at Oxford by Nicholas Wadham in 1613.
=Walbrook.= From a pleasant stream of clear water which, after skirting
the wall of St Stephen’s Church, behind where the Mansion House now
stands, ran southward, to empty itself into the Thames at Dowgate.
=Waldenses.= The followers of Peter Waldo, a merchant of Lyons, who
towards the end of the twelfth century had the four Gospels
translated for the benefit of the people, and was unsparing in his
denunciation of the clergy. With the Albigenses of Languedoc these
people, who entered with their leader into the valleys of Dauphine
and Piedmont, may be regarded as the earliest of the Reformers.
=Wales.= This Celtic territory, which was never even penetrated by the
Anglo-Saxons, received the name of “Wallia,” signifying the country
of the _Wahlen_ or _Wahls_, foreigners.
=Walham Green.= The original spelling of this name “Wahlheim,” expressed
from the Anglo-Saxon point of view a home or settlement of the
_Wahls_ or foreigners.
=Walk a Virginia Fence.= An American phrase applied to a drunken man. In
Virginia the rail fences are constructed in a zig-zag manner, whence
they are also called “worm fences.”
=Walking Gentlemen.= In theatrical parlance, one who plays the part of a
gentleman or noble on the stage; he may not have much to say, but
his bearing must be above reproach. The plays of Shakespeare abound
in parts of this kind.
=Walk the Chalk.= An Americanism for to act straight or keep in the
right path.
=Wallop.= In the year 1514 the French fleet ravaged the coast of Sussex,
and burned Brighthelmstone, now Brighton, whereupon Sir John Wallop,
one of the best naval commanders of his time, was sent by Henry
VIII. to make reprisals. In this he succeeded only too well; he
burned twenty-one French coasting villages, demolished several
harbours, and thrashed the enemy to his heart’s content. His men,
however, proud of the achievement, declared that they had Walloped
the French; and thus it was that a new synonym for “thrash” came to
be incorporated into the English language.
=Waltham.= From the Anglo-Saxon _Waldheim_, the home or settlement in
the wood.
=Waltz.= From the German “Waltzer,” the name of the dance, and
_waltzen_, to roll, relative to the revolutions made by the pairs of
dancers.
=Walworth.= Originally a settlement of the _Wahls_, or foreigners,
descendants of the Danes (see “Southwark”). This district became in
Anglo-Saxon days a _worth_, or manor, from which Sir William
Walworth, the Lord Mayor who slew Wat Tyler, derived his family
name.
=Wandsworth.= Anciently described as “Wandlesworth,” the manor watered
by the River Wandle.
=Wapentake.= Expresses the Saxon for “a touching of arms.” This
territorial division, which obtained in Yorkshire in the time of the
Anglo-Saxons, and corresponded to the “Hundred” elsewhere, received
its name from the periodical meeting of the champions of each
hundred to touch spears and swear to defend the common cause.
=Wardour Street.= After Wardour Castle, the seat of the ground landlord,
Lord Arundel of Wardour.
=Wardrobe Terrace.= Marks the site of the ancient “Wardrobe,” when our
sovereigns resided in what was styled “Tower Royal” hard by.
=Warwick.= From the Anglo-Saxon _Wærwic_, “war town,” so called on
account of its permanent garrison of soldiers.
=Warwick Lane.= From the town mansion of the Beauchamps, Earls of
Warwick.
=Warwick Road.= After the Earls of Warwick, owners of the Earl’s Court
estate before it passed to the Holland family.
=Washington.= Laid out under the superintendence of George Washington,
the first President of the United States. This seat of the
Government was honoured with his name.
=Water Lane.= Prior to the construction of Victoria Street this winding
lane led down to the Thames.
=Waterloo Bridge.= So called because it was declared open 18th June
1817, the anniversary of the battle of Waterloo.
=Waterloo Park.= After Sir Sidney Waterloo, who presented it to the
public.
=Waterloo Place.= So called as a military set-off to Trafalgar Square
when the Duke of York’s column was erected by public subscription in
1833. The statues of famous British generals around this open space
are quite in keeping with the design.
=Water Poet.= The literary sobriquet of John Taylor, who was a Thames
waterman.
=Watling Street.= A corruption of _Vitellina Strata_, “the road of
Vitellius,” so called because this great Roman highway from Dover to
Cardigan in Wales was projected by the Emperor Vitellius, and those
portions of it in London and elsewhere were constructed during his
reign.
=Watteau.= See “Á la Watteau.”
=Way Down.= An Americanism for “down the way to” _e.g._--“Way down the
lone churchyard.”
=Wayzgoose.= A printers’ summer outing, so called from the wayz or
stubble goose which, when the outing took place later in the season,
was the invariable dinner dish. The term _wayz_ is from the Dutch
_wassen_ and German _waschen_, to grow; hence a goose that has
fattened among the stubble after the harvest has been gathered.
=Wedding Breakfast.= The nuptial banquet had in Catholic days a real
significance, when, having fasted from midnight, the entire party
attended Mass, and partook of the Communion. At the close of the
marriage ceremony the priest regaled them with wine, cakes, and
sweetmeats in the church porch by way of breakfast.
=Wednesday.= In the Scandinavian mythology this was “Wodin’s Day,” or
that set apart for the worship of Odin or Wodin, the god of magic
and the inventor of the Arts.
=Wedgwood Ware.= The style of pottery invented or introduced by Josiah
Wedgwood in 1775.
=Weeping Cross.= A cross set up on the way to a churchyard where the
coffin was rested for a brief space while prayers were offered up
for the soul of the deceased. The wailing of the women generally
interrupted the proceedings.
=Weeping Philosopher.= Heraclitus of Ephesus, who voluntarily embittered
the declining years of his existence by weeping over the folly of
mankind.
=Wedlock Street.= After Welbeck Abbey, the seat of the Duke of Portland,
the great ground landlord.
=Wellingborough.= Anciently “Wellingbury,” on account of the medicinal
wells or springs which abound in its vicinity.
=Wellington.= This province and capital city of New Zealand received the
name of the Duke of Wellington.
=Wellington Boots.= After the Duke of Wellington.
=Wellington Street.= In honour of the Duke of Wellington, because it
leads to Waterloo Bridge.
=Wells Street.= A corruption of “Well Street,” after Well in Yorkshire,
the seat of the Strangeways family, from whom Lady Berners, owner of
the estate, was descended.
=Welsher.= The name borne by an absconding bookmaker on a race-course
was originally a “Welshman,” in allusion to the old ditty: “Taffy
was a Welshman, Taffy was a thief.”
=Welsh Rabbit.= A popular corruption of “Welsh Rarebit.”
=Wesleyan Methodists.= The name borne by that portion of the Methodist
sect which worship in chapels and so-called churches, which was far
from the intention of their founder. See “Primitive Methodists.”
=Wesleyans.= The followers of John Wesley, or “Methodists” in general.
=Wessex.= The great kingdom of the _West Seaxe_, or West Saxons, under
the Heptarchy.
=Westbourne Park.= The district formerly traversed by the west bourne or
stream between “Kilburn” and “Bayswater.”
=West Indies.= Those islands in the Caribbean Sea, which Columbus
imagined to form part of the great unknown India, as approached from
the west.
=Westminster.= This name has been from time immemorial given to the
district of which the ancient fane tautologically styled
“Westminster Abbey” is the centre. One does not speak of “York
Minster Abbey” or “Lincoln Minster Abbey.” A minster is a great
church in connection with a monastery. Since the Reformation the
abbeys have been swept away, the Minsters remain. The earliest
mention of “the West Minster” occurs in a Saxon charter of 785, in
contradistinction to “the East Minster” that stood in those days
somewhere on Tower Hill. All trace of this has been lost, yet it is
possible that St Katherine’s Hospital, now displaced by the docks of
the same name, grew out of it.
=Westmorland.= The land peopled by the Westmorings, or those of the
Western moors.
=Weymouth Street.= After Lord Weymouth, the son-in-law of the ground
landlord, the Duke of Portland.
=What’s the Damage?= This expression arose out of the damages awarded to
a successful litigant in the Law Courts.
=Whig Bible.= So called owing to the substitution of the word
“placemakers” for “peacemakers.”
=Whigs.= An abbreviation of “Whigamores,” first applied to the Scottish
Covenanters in consequence of a rising among the peasantry among the
Lowland moors called the “Whigamore Raid,” and finally to that
political party which strove to exclude the Duke of York, James II.,
from the throne because he was a Catholic. The term “Whigamore”
arose out of the twin-syllabic cry “Whig-am!” of the teamsters and
ploughmen of those districts of Scotland to drive their horses.
=Whisky.= An English form of the Irish “Uisquebaugh.”
=Whitby.= So called by the Danes when they took possession of this abbey
town on the cliffs, literally “white town.”
=Whitebait.= On account of its silvery whiteness and because it was at
one time used exclusively for baiting crab and lobster pots.
=Whiteboys.= A band of Irish insurgents who wore white smocks over their
ordinary garments.
=Whitechapel.= As in the case of Westminster, this name now expresses a
district, and “Whitechapel Church” sounds ridiculous. Its ancient
designation was the “White Chapel of St Mary.”
=Whitecross Street.= See “Redcross Street.”
=Whitefriars Street.= In olden days this was the western boundary of the
Carmelite or White Friars’ Monastery, built in 1245.
=Whitehall.= The central portion of the wide thoroughfare between
Charing Cross and Westminster. This received its name from the
Banqueting-hall of white stone, originally part of a palace designed
by Cardinal Wolsey for the London house of the Archbishop of York,
and now the United Service Museum.
=White Hart.= An inn sign from the device of Richard II.
=White Hart Street.= After an ancient inn, “The White Hart,” removed
during the reign of George I.
=White House.= The official residence of the President of the United
States at Washington, so called because it is built of freestone
painted white.
=White Quakers.= An offshoot of the Quaker sect, about 1840, who adopted
white clothing.
=White Queen.= Mary Queen of Scots, who appeared in white mourning for
her murdered husband, Lord Darnley.
=White Lion.= An inn sign from the badge of Edward IV. as Earl of March.
=White Sea.= So called because during six months out of each year it is
frozen over and covered with snow.
=White Swan.= An inn sign complimentary to Edward III. and Henry IV.,
whose badge it was.
=Whit Sunday.= A corruption of “White Sunday,” so called from the
earliest days of Christianity in England because the catechumens or
newly baptised attended Mass, and received the Sacrament dressed in
white, on the Feast of Pentecost.
=Whittington Avenue.= After Sir Richard Whittington, thrice Lord Mayor
of London, who resided in this neighbourhood.
=Whittington Stone.= The name of a tavern on Highgate Hill, opposite to
which is, according to tradition, the identical stone on which Dick
Whittington, the future Lord Mayor of London, rested while listening
to the bells of Bow Church chiming across the pleasant fields.
=Wicked Bible.= Wilfully or otherwise the word “not” is omitted from
this edition of the Scriptures, so that the passage in Exodus xx.
14. reads: “Thou shalt commit adultery.”
=Wide-awake.= The slang term for a soft felt hat, because, having no
nap, it must always be wide awake.
=Widow Bird.= A corruption of “Whydaw Bird,” from the country in West
Africa where it is found.
=Wigmore Street.= In common with several neighbouring streets, this
perpetuates one of the titles of Edward Harley, Earl of Oxford and
Mortimer, who in 1717 was created Baron Harley of Wigmore in
Herefordshire, the ground landlord.
=Wilburites.= The orthodox or strict members of the Society of Friends
in America under John Wilbur, as opposed to the “Hicksite Friends.”
=William the Lion.= The surname of this King of the Scots was due to his
selection of a lion rampant for his crest.
=Willis’s Rooms.= See “Almack’s.”
=Will Scarlet.= A euphonism invented by Robin Hood for William
Scathelocke, the real name of one of his merry men.
=Wilton.= See “Wiltshire.”
=Wiltshire.= A corruption of “Wiltonshire,” or the Shire of Wilton,
which name in its original form, “Willy Town,” expressed the town on
the River Willy.
=Wimbledon.= Originally _Wibbadon_, expressing the Celtic for a
low-lying meadow or common belonging to one Wibba.
=Wimpole Street.= After the country seat of the Harleys on the
Herefordshire and Cambridgeshire border.
=Winchester Yard.= From Winchester House, the ancient town mansion of
the Bishops of Winchester.
=Windermere.= Expresses the Anglo-Saxon for “clear water lake.”
=Winchester.= Inhabited by the _Belgæ_, this stronghold, called by them
_Cær-Gwent_, “fortified enclosure on the plain,” was after the Roman
invasion made a great centre of military activity under the
Latinised name of _Venta Belgarum_, which the West Saxons changed
into _Wintancæstre_, “the camp town of the Winte,” whence its modern
name has been derived.
=Windmill Street.= A name suggestive of peaceful rusticity. The
thoroughfare in Finsbury so denominated marks the site of three
windmills that were erected on a mound formed by the deposition of a
thousand cart-loads of human bones from the Charnel-house of St
Paul’s Cathedral by order of the Lord Protector Somerset in 1549.
=Windsor.= Anciently described as “Windlesora,” the winding shore.
=Wine Office Court.= From an ancient office where wine licences were
issued.
=Winnipeg.= Indian for “lake of the turbid water.”
=Wirepuller.= In allusion to the manipulators of the figures at a
marionette show.
=Wisconsin.= Indian for “wild-rushing channel.”
=Within an Ace.= Since the ace in a pack of cards is the unit of pips,
he who accomplishes anything by the merest shave does so within a
single mark.
=Wizard of the North.= Sir Walter Scott, so called on account of the
enchantment which, through his novels, he exercised over the
inhabitants of North Britain.
=Woburn Square.= After Woburn Abbey, the ancestral seat of the Duke of
Bedford.
=Woke up the Wrong Passenger.= An Americanism for having made a mistake
in the individual. This originated in the Mississippi steamboats,
the stewards on board of which often call up the wrong passenger at
the stopping-places by night.
=Wolverhampton.= Anciently “Wulfrune’s Hampton,” so called from the
church and college of St Peter founded by Wulfrune, the sister of
King Edgar, in 996.
=Wolverine State.= Michigan, on account of the prairie wolves which
formerly infested this region. Its people are called “Wolverines.”
=Wood Green.= In old days this was a glade in Hornsey Wood.
=Wood Street.= In this locality congregated the turners of wooden cups,
dishes, and measures of olden times.
=Woolly Heads.= An Americanism for the Negroes of the southern states.
=Woolsack.= The seat reserved for the Lord Chancellor in the House of
Lords, being a large sack stuffed with wool, and covered with
scarlet cloth, its object being to keep him in constant reminder of
the great importance of the woollen manufacture in England.
=Woolwich.= Anciently described as _Hylwich_, “hill town.”
=Worcester.= Known to the Anglo-Saxons as _Hwicwara ceaster_, “the
stronghold of the Huiccii.” The latter portion of the name, however,
proves that this must have been a Roman encampment; the _Huiccii_
were a Celtic tribe.
=Worcester College.= Originally known as Gloucester Hall, this Oxford
foundation was in 1714 enlarged and endowed as a college by Sir
Thomas Cooksey of Astley, Worcestershire, who, not desiring his name
to be handed down to posterity, called it after his native county.
=Work a Dead Horse.= A journeyman’s phrase implying that he has to set
to work on the Monday morning upon that for which he has already
been paid on the previous Saturday.
=World’s End.= A famous house of entertainment during the reign of
Charles II., so called on account of its immense distance in those
days out of London. Like many other places of outdoor resort, it
exists now only as a public-house.
=Wormwood Street.= From the bitter herbs which sprang up along the Roman
Wall in ancient times.
=Worsted.= After a town in Norfolk of the same name where this fabric
was of old the staple industry.
=Writes like an Angel.= Dr Johnson said of Oliver Goldsmith: “He writes
like an angel and talks like a fool.” The allusion was to Angelo
Vergeco, a Greek of the sixteenth century, noted for his beautiful
handwriting.
=Wych Street.= This now vanished thoroughfare was anciently _Aldwych_,
“Old Town,” so called because it led from St Clement Danes Church to
the isolated settlement in the parish of St Giles’s-in-the-Fields,
which in our time is known as Broad Street, Bloomsbury.
=Wye.= From the Welsh _gwy_, water.
=Wyndham College.= The joint foundation at Oxford of Nicholas and
Dorothy Wyndham of Edge and Merefield, Somersetshire, in 1611.
X
=X Ale.= The original significance of the X mark on beer barrels was
that the liquor had paid a ten shilling-duty. Additional X’s are
simply brewers’ trade marks, denoting various degrees of strength
over that of the first X.
=XL’ers.= See “Exellers.”
=XXX’s.= See “Three Exes.”
Y
=Yale University.= After Elihu Yale, formerly Governor of the East
Indian Company’s settlement at Madras, whose princely benefactions
to the Collegiate School of the State of Connecticut, founded by ten
Congregational ministers at Killingworth in 1701, warranted the
removal of that seat of learning to New Haven fifteen years later.
=Yang-tse-Kiang.= Chinese for “great river.”
=Yankee.= A term popularly applied at first to one born in the New
England states of North America owing to the fact that _Yankees_,
_Yangkies_ and similar perpetrations were the nearest approaches to
the word “English,” which the Indians of Massachusetts were capable
of. Afterwards it came to be applied to the people of the continent
generally.
=Yankee Jonathan.= The nickname of Jonathan Hastings, a farmer of
Hastings, Mass., on account of his addiction to the word “Yankee,”
used adjectively for anything American. Thus he would say “a Yankee
good cider,” “a Yankee good horse,” etc.
=Yankee State.= Ohio, so called by the Kentuckians on account of its
many free institutions.
=Yarmouth.= The port situated at the mouth of the Yare. See “Yarrow.”
=Yarn.= A spun-out story bears this name in allusion to the thread out
of which cloth is woven.
=Yarrow.= From the Celtic _garw_, rough, rapid.
=Yeddo.= Japanese for “river entrance.”
=Yellow Book.= A French Government report, so called from its yellow
cover.
=Yellow Boy.= Slang for a sovereign.
=Yellow Jack.= A yellow flag which is flown from a vessel in quarantine
and from naval hospitals as a warning of yellow fever or other
contagious disease on board. See “Union Jack.”
=Yellow Press.= By this term is meant that section of the Press which is
given up to creating a scare or sensation. It has been derived from
what in the United States bears the name of “Yellow-covered
Literature,” consisting of trashy sensation novels, published
chiefly for railway reading.
=Yellow Sea.= From the tinge imparted to its waters by the immense
quantities of alluvial soil poured into them by the Yang-tse-Kiang
River.
=Yendys.= The literary sobriquet of Sydney Dobell, being simply his
Christian name reversed.
=Yeoman’s Service.= Originally that rendered to the State in time of war
by volunteers of the Guilds or City Companies. The term “Yeoman” is
derived from the German _gemein_, common, and applied in the sense
of enlistment for the common good.
=Yokohama.= Japanese for “Cross Shore.”
=York.= The _Eboracum_ of the Romans, a Latinised rendering of the
British _Eurewic_ (pronounced _Yorric_), “a row of houses on the
Eure,” which river is now called the Ouse.
=York and Albany.= An omnibus stage in Camden Town named after
Frederick, Duke of York and Albany, the second son of George III.
=York Gate.= The water gate, still standing, built for York House, of
which no other vestige remains.
=York Road.= This long road, parallel to the Great Northern Railway at
King’s Cross, owes its designation to the circumstance that the line
in question was originally styled the “London and York Railway.”
=Yorkshire Stingo.= A public-house sign indicating that the celebrated
ale of this name, due to the sting or sharpness of its taste, is
sold on the premises.
=York Street.= In Covent Garden, after James, Duke of York, the second
son of Charles I., and brother of Charles II., subsequently James
II. In Westminster, from the erstwhile residence of Frederick, Duke
of York and Albany, son of George III.
=Young Buffs.= The 31st Foot, whose uniforms were very similar to those
of the Buffs, or 3rd Foot--viz. scarlet coats faced and lined with
buff, and the remainder wholly of buff-coloured material. Soon after
their formation in 1702 they distinguished themselves greatly in
action, whereupon the General rode up, exclaiming: “Well done, old
Buffs!” “But we are not the Buffs,” some of the men replied. “Then,
well done, young Buffs,” was the retort, and the name stuck to them
ever after.
=Young Nipper.= See “Nipper.”
=Yucatan.= From _Yuca tan_, “What do you say?” which was the only answer
the Spaniards were able to obtain from the aborigines when they
asked them the name of the country.
=Yuletide.= Christmastide, from the Norse _juul_, Christmas.
Z
=Zadkiel.= The literary sobriquet of Lieutenant Richard James Morrison,
author of “The Prophetic Almanack,” after the angel of the planet
Jupiter in the Jewish mythology.
=Zantippe.= After the wife of Socrates, whose name has become proverbial
for a bad-tempered spouse.
=Zanzibar.= A European inversion of the Arabic _Ber-ez-Zuig_, the coast
of the Zangis, or Negroes.
=Zeeland.= Expresses the Dutch for “Sea-land,” land reclaimed from the
sea.
=Zenith City of the Unsalted Seas.= Duluth, so called from its
picturesque situation at the western extremity of the Great Lakes.
=Zoroastrianism.= The religious system of the “Parsees” or
Fire-worshippers, introduced into Persia by Zoroaster _circa_ B.C.
500.
=Zounds.= A corruption of “His Wounds,” or the Five Sacred Wounds on the
Body of the Redeemer. This oath was first employed by John Perrot, a
natural son of Henry VIII. Queen Elizabeth was much addicted to the
exclamation “His Wounds,” but the ladies of her Court softened it
into “Zounds” and “Zouterkins.”
=Zurich.= From the Latin _Thuricum_, in honour of Thuricus, the son of
Theodoric, who rebuilt the city after it had been destroyed by
Attila.
=Zuyder Zee.= Properly _Zuider Zee_, the Dutch for “Southern Sea,”
relative to the North Sea or German Ocean.