_Humbug_ (Vol. vii., p. 631.).--The real signification of the word
_humbug_ appears to me to lie in the following derivation of it. Among
the many issues of base coin which from time to time were made in
Ireland, there was none to be compared in worthlessness to that made by
James II. from the Dublin Mint; it was composed of anything on which he
could lay his hands, such as lead, pewter, copper, and brass, and so low
was its intrinsic value, that twenty shillings of it was only worth
twopence sterling. William III., a few days after the Battle of the
Boyne, ordered that the crown piece and half-crown should be taken as
one penny and one halfpenny respectively. The soft mixed metal of which
that worthless coining was composed, was known among the Irish as _Uim
bog_, pronounced _Oom-bug_, _i.e._ soft copper, _i.e._ worthless money;
and in the course of their dealings the modern use of the word _humbug_
took its rise, as in the phrases "that's a _piece of uimbog_ (humbug),"
"don't think to _pass off_ your _uimbug_ on me." Hence the word _humbug_
came to be applied to anything that had a specious appearance, but which
was in reality spurious. It is curious to note that the very opposite of
_humbug_, _i.e._ false metal, is the word _sterling_, which is also
taken from a term applied to the _true_ coinage of the realm, as
_sterling_ coin, _sterling_ truth, _sterling_ worth, &c.