Vagaries of Words.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLV, Issue 251, 15 December 1903, Page 4

Vagaries of Words.

Mr Douglas Forsyth, in Temiple Bar for Octotoer, writes upon the pedigree of words, and describes the curious changes they have undergone.

There are probably few Londoners who could tell one offhand hiow or why the epithet cockney came to be applied to them. Some ill-natured people assert that the word comes lrom the French coquin, "a rogue." But there is an alternative derivation, which is slightly less offensive. The middle English for "egg" was ey ; and "cock-ey" was the name given to the very small eggs such as every lion is supposed to lay at the end of her litter. The translation from a hen's last egg to a woman's last (ih'ild would be easy enough ; and as a last child is apt to 'be unduly petted and pampered, the word "cock-ey" would acquire something of this significance also. Consequently, when country people wic/.od to describe a citizen or towusuiun who was, or whom they supposed to be. smaller, feebler, and more pampert/d thain the hardy rustic, they gave him the name, which suggested the "mother's 'baby" or the lien's smallest egg. Its application in this sense to the citizens of London in particular was made at least as early as the sixteenth century. Probably the most striking instance of the curious way which words, to all languages, have always hcud of departing from their original significance is supplied by our word ''treacle," which originally meant "viper's flesh." The viper in Greek was called "therion," and a preparation of his own flesh (theriake) was believed to bo an antidote to his 'bite. But antidotes and remedies 'being wanted for other ailments also, the familiar word "theriake," after a time, conies to' be used for a medicine of any kind. Now, it is well known that ancient remedies were usually made up in the form of electuaries or syrups, and, by a further almost insensible change, theriake next takes on the meaning of a remedy of any kind in the form of syrup. By-and~bye the word has a double signification ; it was, on the one hand, used In the sense of a syrup of any kind, without the implication of a syrup. A French writer recently jumped to the conclusion that our English word "teetotaller" meant totaliseur du the. But, as a matter of fact, the woi<d itself has nothing to do with tea, whatsoever may be the quantity of that refreshing beverage which its profeesors may consume. It is said lo owe its origin to the stammering of a temperance lecturer named Tarner, who in 1833 went about advocating "t-total abstinence."

AccotKling to popular story, our merry monarch, Charles Xl.,* was once so 'delighted with a Ivuge loin of beef s<>t before him by a courtly en'tertaiiver that he 'drew his sword and knighted the beef on the table, dot-la ring that -l-bat part shc«ukl ever •afterwards be known as Sir Loin, i-uller, in h'is Church Ilistory, stales that Henry VIII, ronferrcd the same honour, in. the sarin; words, on a loin of beef set l>efore him at tile Abbot of Reading's table. But, unioi tunatt-ly l'Or both stories. the spelling of "sirloin" lms been shown to be merely a mistake for "buiioiift, a word derived from the l-renrh surlogne, meaning the "upper part" of the loin

Jierry-bii'ikler" is a word often in the mouths of tHs®ustod householders, as is "gerrymander" j tt (j w mouths of party poKticfnTw « n d ttiiepullers. Now, gerrymandering means -the arranging of voting clistucts Hi s'ucli a maimer as to „j V e the party employing* it nil unfair ■advantage at -an election. And the term originated at Massachusetts in 1811, when some caricaturist happened to observe that the shape of the map of one of the districts' which p (i ' arl ' an « ed to Wur the paity of> Governor Elbrklge Gerrv r a failtas ' t ' il; salamainder £ X e h y bnn,Bht out a n ">p was nefn •n® curi ° ,lls iesenibla»ce was pittonally emphasised, and tlw Governor s name anid that of the monster amalgamated as " Gerrvman'der." B u t "jerry-builder" has hitherto defied the explorations of the keenest .word-lumters.