The Roman name Brassica came, as is supposed, from “præséco,” because it
was cut off from the stalk: it was also called Caulis in Latin, on
account of the goodness of its stalks, and from which the English name
Cole, Colwort, or Colewort, is derived. The word cabbage, by which all
the varieties of this plant are now improperly called, means the firm
head or ball that is formed by the leaves turning close over each other:
from that circumstance we say the cole has cabbaged.--From thence arose
the cant word applied to tailors, who formerly worked at the private
houses of their customers, where they were often accused of cabbaging:
which means the rolling up pieces of cloth instead of the list and
shreds, which they claim as their due.[105]
[105] Phillips’s Hist. of Cultivated Vegetables.
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