LIVES ENSHRINED IN LANGUAGE

Hokitika Guardian, 6 November 1923, Page 1

LIVES ENSHRINED IN LANGUAGE

Everyone knows of course that such woids as Alacadam or Macintosh are named after their inventors, and that •Boycott was an Irish land agent who was “declared black” by the tenants. But few realise bow extensively this form of nomenclature enters into our every-day speech. “Lives Enshrined in Language by the Rev. T. Stenhousc. Rh.]).. contains a great dealt of out <4' the way information on the subject. Flow many for example, know the oi igin of the expression. ‘‘Hobson's Choice.” In ;the 17th. century, at Cambridge, we learn, one Hobson had a “table of 40 horses, which he used to

hire out. AVhen a customer appeared be was not allowed to choose bis mount, but bad to take the animal in the stall nearest the door. Again, the derivation of the term “to burke” will be new to most. Burke and Hare, tho no_ . torious criminals, suffocated their victims by stuffing their mouths and nostrils with tow, and then sold the bodies for dissection. Eventually, in 1529. they were sentenced to the gallows, and the execution was public. A large crowd assembled, and thought that hanging was too merciful a death for such scoundrels. They ought to have a taste of their own medicine. Accordingly, when Burke appeared on the scaffold, tlie mob shouted, “Burke him. Burke him! give him no rope! Burke Hare, too!” A colonel in the Southern States *4

America devised a dagger of a particular shape, to which he bequeathed his name; hence the howie knife. In South Carolina there once dwelt a fanner called ibyncli. a man of weight and standing in tile community. AYlienevor a. malefactor was caught in the neighbourhood. this Solon would bo summoned from bis fields to preside at an improvised court. Then, without more ado, or after a very perfunctory inquiry the culprit would bo strung up on the nearest tree bv the stern decree of !ynch-la\v. An assassin was originally a member of a certain Mohammedan society, which existed for tho purpose of murdering flic adherents of rival seels. These hnshisliin or assassins do-

rived their name from their practice ot intoxicating themselves with hashish before they went out to kill. Indeed, one could quote indefinitely from Dr. Stenhouse's pages, which emhody the fruits of much laborious investigation, and are replete with curious lore.