Medals and Awards

A few will be aware I have been known to speak on various subjects over the years. Fundamentally these all revolve around my favourite subject of etymology. Have always enjoyed bringing this fascinating subject to others. It’s not for me to say whether the audiences have, although many have asked me to return.

Thought it might be worthwhile sharing a snippet or two from these etymological presentations, continuing with Medals and Awards. For most the list of awards making the headlines at New Year and the King’s Birthday List are simply a list of people, many of whom we have never heard of and probably will never hear of again. Those awarded medals in times of conflict are more likely to be remembered, if only because the recipients have become a part of history. As numismatists - those associated with coins as well as medals - will confirm, medals and awards all have a beginning, were created for a specific reason. While we often hear the narrative of the recipient, we rarely if ever hear of the story behind the award itself. Here is a talk giving a different historical view. An examination of the award, its beginnings and event the recipients, albeit a rather different look.

Order of the Garter – or correctly the Most Noble Order of the Garter was founded in 1348 by Edward II, it is limited to just 24 members at any one time, effectively 23 as the monarch is automatically one, and is made at the reigning monarch’s pleasure. New appointments are always made on St George’s Day, although there is no reason to believe this was the date of its inception, this is merely a much later idea of nationalist pride and not a true ‘tradition’. The emblem’s motto is famously Honi soit qui mal y pense or ‘Shame on him who thinks evil of it. Now nobody really knows why Edward III started this but there is a story and we should cover same. It seems the Countess of Salisbury was dancing at court in Calais when a garter slipped from her leg, to save her blushes and put a stop to the giggles from courtiers, the kind slipped it on his own leg and uttered the immortal words Honi soit qui mal y pense. This is simply the most popular of the stories. Another speaks of King Richard I who, while on the crusade to the Holy Land, ordered his knights to tie garters around their legs and when they won Edward III subsequently marked this with the order of the garter. The motto actually refers to Edward’s claim to the French throne, the order created to help pursue this claim. ETYMOLOGICALLY the four words have rather different roots giving a somewhat different meaning if we see Order as ‘to fit together’, which seems quite logical; ‘of’ was originally ‘off, away’; ‘the’ confusingly used to be ‘this,that’; and ‘garter’ is derived from an unknown root leading to the Old Welsh garr ‘leg’ and Old French jartier ‘bend of the knee’.

Order of the Bath – this began as the Most Honourable Military Order of the Bath and was founded by George I on May 18th 1725. Its name comes from the elaborate ceremony involving bathing of a knight when appointed to this order of chivalry – the bath symbolised purification. It is often said George I revived the Order of the Bath but this is not possible as it never existed prior to then. It is awarded for service and is at the monarch’s pleasure. The award bears two mottos: TRIA IUNCTA IN UNO Latin for ‘THREE JOINED IN ONE’ and the German ICH DIEN ‘I serve’. ETYMOLOGICALLY the four words have rather different roots giving a somewhat different meaning if we see Order as ‘to fit together’, which seems quite logical; ‘of’ was originally ‘off, away’; ‘the’ confusingly used to be ‘this,that’; and ‘bath’ or ‘to warm’, is a little easier to see for no one wants to be immersed in cold water.

Distinguished Service Cross – renamed from the earlier Conspicuous Service Cross in October 1914, it was awarded to those of the British Armed Forces, Royal Fleet Auxiliary, and British Merchant Navy for “…gallantry during active operations against the enemy.” ETYMOLOGICALLY ‘distinguished’ is used in the ‘celebratory’ sense from 1714, coming to English through French from Latin where disinguere literally means ‘to separate between’ and is ultimately from a Proto-Indo-European root ‘to push, thrust’; ‘service’ in a military sense is seen from the end of the 13th century, this from ‘serve’ and originally meant ‘to be a slave’; ‘cross’ is a strange word and may well have two quite separate etymologies, although no proof of same has ever been found - for the sense of the ‘X’ image, the religious image, and even the ‘irate’ sense, all seem to stem from a root meaning ‘thwart, hinder, oppose’ and quite literally as ‘cross purposes’, while there is undoubtedly a quite different sense in the Germanic languages epitomised by the Saxon ‘cross’ which was simply a marker and did not even have a cross piece until Christianity arrived in Britain.

Colonel Luke Lillingstone

A blue plaque on the side of the Kings Head in Swan Street, Lichfield tells how, on 25th March 1705, the colonel raised a regiment of foot. This regiment became the 38th foot in 1751, becoming the 1st Staffordshire Regiment the following year, and the South Staffordshire Regiment in 1882.

What is less well known is the 38th Regiment of Foot were first raised as Sir John Guise's Regiment of Foot in 1688 and disbanded in 1694, only to be raised a second time in 1694 (by Colonel Lillingstone) and disbanded two years later.

Vanuatu Place Names Explained

Having blogged samples of my books on English place names and also examined the etymologies of the nations of the world and their respective capitals I thought it time I cast my net a little wider. As English place names share some links to other tongues it would be interesting to see if any of the elements contributing to our place names could be found elsewhere. Continuing an alphabetical tour of the world and a look at the largest Vanuatu cities.

Lorevilko gets its name from the East Santo language and means 'wild kava'.

Port Vila is self-explanatory and means exactly what it seems.

Ambrym was allegedly named 'ham rim' by Captain Cook, although there is no evidence he ever landed here.

Erromango is said to have been named when Captain Cook came here and was given a yam to eat. In the Sorung language he was told armai n'go meaning 'this food is good' but he thought it was the name of the island.

Shepherd Islands were named by Captain Cook after his friend Anthony Shepherd, a British astronomer.

Vot Tande means 'the rock of frigatebirds'.

Merelava in the Mota language means 'the big boy', compare this with the nearby island of Meryriyi 'the small boy'.

Note the spellings of the places are English as the piece is written in English.

Singapore Place Names Explained

Having blogged samples of my books on English place names and also examined the etymologies of the nations of the world and their respective capitals I thought it time I cast my net a little wider. As English place names share some links to other tongues it would be interesting to see if any of the elements contributing to our place names could be found elsewhere. Continuing an alphabetical tour of the world and a look at the Singapore's names.

Bishan gets its name from the Cantonese for 'large burial ground'. this established in 1870 by Cantonese and Hakka immigrants.

Marymount comes from a Mandarin pronunciation of MacRitchie, itself the name of the reservoir here.

Bukit Merah translates to 'red hill' from Malay, a reference to the red-colour of the soil on the hill. Traditionally the name is derived from a plague of swordfish, a wall of banana stems and blood - so no need to explain further.

Bukit Ho Swee is named from Tay Ho Swee (1834-1903), a Chinese opium and spirit farmer, timber merchant and ship owner. His infuence can still be seen today.

Tiong Bahru means 'new cemetery', from the Hokkien thiong and Malay bahru 'new'.

Bukit Timah is a Malay place name and translates as 'tin hill'. However, the hill has nothing to do with tin but was earlier known as Bukit Temak 'the hill of the temak trees', the poko temak was once abundant here.

Holland Road was named after early resident Hugh Holland, an architect.

Raffles Place is named after the founder of modern Singapore, Sir Stamford Raffles, who died in 1826 aged just 44.

Tanjong Pagar comes from the Malay for 'cape of stakes', this fishing village being on a promontory.

Geylang is from the Malay geylanggan meaning 'twist, crush', referring to the process of extracting meat and milk from coconuts.

Aljunied was named after former land owner Syed Sharif Oman bin Ali Al Junied who died in 1852.

McPherson was named after Lieutenant Colonel Ronald MacPherson, a soldier, architect and colonial administrator who died in 1869.

Kallang is an old Malay reference to the orang laut or 'people of the sea'.

Lavender took its name from Lavender Street, itself suggested by residents owing to the stench from the nearby gas works.

Katong is an extinct species of sea turtle.

Mountbatten is named after Lord Louis Mountbatten.

Dhobi Ghaut comes from the Hindi dhobi 'washerman' and ghat steps leading down to the water where the washing took place.

Istana means 'palace' in Malay.

Orchard Road took its name from the orchards where fruit, nutmeg and pepper grew.

Outram was named after the British general Sir James Outram, who died in 1863.

Pearl's Hill is named after Captain James Pearl, the captain of the Indiana who carried Sir Stamford Raffles to Singapore.

Pasir Panjang means 'long sand' and a reference to the beach here.

Sungei Road comes from the Malay sungei or 'river'.

Toa Payoh translates as 'big swamp'.

Siglap is said to come from when the first Dutch vessels appeared here. As the dark thunder clouds appeared overhead the Malay si-gelap was said to refer to 'darkness that conceals'.

Note the spellings of the places are English as the piece is written in English.

Saint Kitts and Nevis Place Names Explained

Having blogged samples of my books on English place names and also examined the etymologies of the nations of the world and their respective capitals I thought it time I cast my net a little wider. As English place names share some links to other tongues it would be interesting to see if any of the elements contributing to our place names could be found elsewhere. Continuing an alphabetical tour of the world and a look at the largest St Kitts and Nevis' cities.

Saint Thomas Lowland is a parish named after the dedication of the first church built here.

Gingerland is named after the most valuable crop grown here.

Charlestown took its name from Fort Charles, itself named to honour King Charles II of England, Scotland and Ireland (1630 to 1685).

Newcastle is clearly a transferred name and an early remnant of British colonialism.

Basseterre served as the capital of the French colony here, the name translating as 'low land' in English.

Dieppe Bay Town takes its name from the French place, also a coastal area named from the Dutch diep and related to the Old Scandinavian djupr and Old English deop all meaning 'deep' and all telling this is a deep water harbour.

Note the spellings of the places are English as the piece is written in English.

Canada's Provinces

Having recently been reminded of how the name of Canada being named for a tiny area around the St Lawrence where the Iroquoi referred to their kanata or ‘village’, I thought it a good idea to examine the origins of the names of the territories. These twelve names have a variety of origins, some simplistic, others transferred from the Old World, and even those from the indigenous languages.

Alberta's name is down to the Scottish Marquis of Lorne, the Governor General of Canada, who named it after his wife Princess Louise Caroline Alberta in 1882.

British Colombia shares an origin with the US District of Columbiia in being named after Christopher Columbus, although this was much later than the US names and not known as such until 1858.

Manitoba is a province named after Lake Manitoba, itself from the Cree tribe's name for the island in the centre of the lake which they called Manatuapa or 'great spirit' as they regarded this as the home of said spirit.

New Brunswick is named to honour King George III in 1784 when it was separated from Nova Scotia (see below). George was not only the third George to be king of England but also the third of the House of Hanover, also referred to as Brunswick.

Newfoundland is possibly the most simplistic English place name anywhere. Discovered by John Cabot, an Italian-born Englishman, in 1497 he never actually named it such but is first seen in a document of the following year when it is simply said to be 'the new-found land'. Correctly the territory is Newfoundland and Labrador, where the English name of the island was translated to Portuguese as Terre-Nueve. The Portuguese exploration of this region is also seen in the naming of Labrador, itself directly from the surname of the navigator Joao Fernandes Lavrador. Hence the dog taking its name from the region and often abbreviated to just 'lab' should correctly be called a 'lav'. Also of note is the name given to some parts as New Britain, named as this was north of what was known as New France in the 17th century. This all started in 1612 with Welsh captain Thomas Button when he spent the winter on the shoreline of Hudson Bay at a place he called Nelson on the shores of the Nelson River. He called the region 'New Wales' and erected a sign telling others who came here. Nobody arrived until 1619 when Captain Luke Foxe discovered the sign and referred to the lands north of the mouth of the Nelson River as New North Wales and that to the south as New South Wales.

North West Territories is another requiring no explanation other than to say it is referred to as being 'north west' of Rupert's Land. A much better name is the earlier Inuktitut name of Nunatsiaq or 'beautiful land'. In the earliest days it was proposed the name should be changed to Denendeh, an Athabaskan word meaning 'our land'. This was rejected along with the rather amusing idea this should be known as simply 'Bob', which likely began as a joke but attracted a lot of interest until the joke ceased to be funny.

Nova Scotia is literally the Latin for 'New Scotland' and named by Sir William Alexander after being granted the area by James I. Previously the French had settled here and knew the place as Acadia.

Ontario, like Manitoba, is named after its lake. Here the Iroquois oniatar-io means 'beautiful' in referring to lake. The river and state of Ohio in the USA share this derivation.

Prince Edward Island was discovered in 1534 by the French explorer Jacques Cartier who called it Ile St Jean or St John's Island as it indeed became known when ceded to the British in 1763. In 1798 it was renamed after Prince Edward who was the fourth son of George III but, more importantly, the father of Queen Victoria.

Quebec takes the name of the city, one of the oldest known names on the North American continent and from the Algonquin kebec meaning 'where the river narrows'.

Yukon, as our final example, is thankfully an indigenous name. The region takes its name from the Yukon River which simply means 'big river'.

For those interested I looked at the origins of the names of Canadian cities a couple of years ago.