West Idioms

Several words have become part of the language in being used in phrases. Last time we looked at ‘ear’ and now look at ‘west’.

West Country, in referring to my favourite part of England in Devon and Cornwall, has been used since the late 14th century.

West Coast, as in that shore of the USA, is first seen in 1850.

West End (of London), known since 1776. West-Enders have been named such since 1833.

West Side, the part of Manhattan which gave a name to a famous musical, could not have been written before 1858 as that was the first year anyone recorded such.

Go west, as in dying, became popular during the First World War, but may have been in use for more than two thousand years. In 17th century London the phrase was used to mean ‘a hanging’, almost certainly a reference to Tyburn.

West Indies have been known since around 1650 – although West Indians is not seen until 1928.

Mae West, slang for a inflatable life jacket, is first found in 1940. It takes its name from a buxom film star of the same name, and you can work the connection out for yourself.

West Bank, the former Jordanian territory, has been known as such since 1967.

Westerns, as in films or books about the Old West in the US, is first seen in 1909.

Western omelettes, first recorded in 1922, contain ham and onions.

Nobody was westernized until 1837.

Westerly winds have been described since the 15th century.

Nothing is found for southwesterlies until 1833, although the sou’wester (protective nautical coat) is seen thjree years later.

Northwesterlies have been known since the 14th century.

Northwest Passage is found in a document since 1600.

Bridge Idioms

Several words have become part of the language in being used in phrases. Last time we looked at ‘hot’ and now look at ‘bridge’. Incidentally the original idea of a ‘bridge’ would be seen more as a walkway through modern eyes, for it was simply a beam of log laid across wetland.

Bridge of the nose has only been seen since the early 15th century.

A bridge on a stringed instrument is not described as such until the late 14th century.

Interestingly the bridge on a ship is not found in print until 1843, although prior to that the ‘ship’s bridge’ was a narrow platform from where the captain gave out orders rather than an enclosed area.

Bridge as a card game is certainly seen from 1886, although some sources point to an earlier reference from 1843 – the latter is questioned as it may not have been the same game.

Footbridges have been seen in writing since around the early 16th century.

Drawbridge, as associated with castles, are described as such from around 1300.

Suspension bridge is first seen in 1819, although the same technology existed prior to this and was described as a suspended bridge from 1796.

Bridgehead is used to mean ‘that part of the bridge closest to the enemy’ from 1801; and not until 1930 did the term come to be viewed as ‘that part of the advance closest to the enemy’. Essentially the same thing, albeit the former is more defensive and the latter invasive.

The place name of Woodbridge would seem to be of obvious derivation but, with there no obvious location for a bridge here and its close proximity to the site of Sutton Hoo, it has been suggested this may refer to odde breg or ‘the promontory of the king’. More in my Suffolk Place Names

The place name of Weybridge is as it would appear, ‘the bridge over the River Wey’. More in my Surrey Place Names

The place name of Uxbridge comes from ‘Wixan’s bridge’. More in my Middlesex Place Names

The place name of Tonbridge is from ‘the bridge at the farmstead’.

The place name of Stourbridge is, unsurprisingly, ‘the bridge on the River Stour’.

The place name of Stocksbridge is said to have been a bridge built by John Stocks near his fulling mill in the early 18th century.

The place name of Stalybridge began as steaf leah or ‘the wood where staves are obtained’, the addition clearly coming when the bridge was built here.

The place name of Sowerby Bridge takes its name from the name of the bridge here. More in my West Yorkshire Place Names

The place name of Kingsbridge in Devon is self-explanatory.

The place name of Bruges comes from the Flemish brug meaning ‘bridge’.

The place name of Bristol is recorded as Brycgstow in Middle English, this tells us it was ‘the assembly place at a bridge’. This has acquired the modern spelling through the local pronunciation of adding ‘l’ to words ending in vowels or vowel sounds.

Geological Ages

A new year and, unlike the Chinese calendar, it doesn't have a name but a number. Remember the good old days before humanity took over the planet when great beasts roamed the land or earlier still when no life-form on the planet existed unless it was single celled? No? In those days at least they had the good sense to give the eons names instead of numbers.

Precambrian is, well, as the name suggests tha which came before the Cambrian. Not overly imaginative you would think but it does cover four billion years from the start of the planet up to 541 million years ago. Credit should also be given to correctly forecasting the name given to the following eon, the Cambrian.

Cambrian was coined by Adam Sedgwick, who named the period of 541 to 485 million years ago after the Latinised form of Cymru, the Welsh name for Wales as this is where he felt the rocks from this time were best exposed. The Welsh Cymry, the word for the people of Cymru, means 'fellow countrymen', rather different from the Saxon wahl from which comes the name of Wales which meant 'foreigner', although this could hardly be considered xenophobic as all the Saxons were saying was they were not Saxon.

Ordovician is named after the Celtic Ordovices, as chosen by Charles Lapworth in 1879, to describe the period from 485 to 443 million years ago. The Ordovices may have farmed the land and kept sheep but they were named for their word for 'hammer'.

Silurian period covers the period 443 to 419 million years ago and named by Sir Roderick Impey Murchison, a friend of Adam Sedgwick, who named it after another Celtic tribe, the Silures. This Welsh tribe's name has most often been described as 'unknown', although this has not stopped a great number of suggestions. One suggests the personal name Essyllt giving the region the name Essyllwg and the people the Essyllwr. Essyllt was a daughter of the king of Germany and one of three damsels of celestial beauty, who married Locrinus and their daughter, Hafren, gave a name to the river Severn in which she drowned along with her mother.

Devonian period of 419 to 358 million years ago takes its name from Devon, again because this was where rocks from the period were first studied. The county is also named from a tribe iof Britons, the Dumnonii, who took their name from the Celtic dubnos and speaks of them as 'dwellers of the deep valley'.

Carboniferous, the period from 358 to 298 million years ago, is named because these rocks are said to be 'coal-bearing', coming from the Latin carbo 'coal' and fero 'I carry'.

Permian, 298 to 252 million years ago, was named in 1841 by Sir Roderick Murchison as these rocks were associated with the region of Perm Krai in Russia. Perm comes either from Finnish or Vepsian Peramaa or Hungarian perem meaning 'far away land' or 'edge' respectively.

Triassic period lasted from 252 to 201 million years ago. Named in 1834 by Friedrich von Alberti after three rock layers known as trias.

Jurassic lasted from 201 to 145 million years ago and is named from the Jura mountains, again where these rocks were first studied. The name Jura is from juria, a Celtic term for 'forest'.

Cretaceous, 145 to 65 million years ago, is a period named by Belgian geologist Jean d'Halloy in 1822 for the chalk beds found around the Paris Basin. The Latin creta means 'chalk'.

Eocene, from 65 to 33 million years ago, is named from the Ancient Greek eos 'dawn' and refers to the new fauna which appeared after the mass extinction of 65 million years ago.

Oligocene, 33 to 23 million years ago, is another from Ancient Greek, this time where oligos 'few' and kainos 'new' refers to the scarcity of molluscs found with the rock strat from this period.

Miocene period, 23 to 5 million years ago, is another from Greek, where meion 'less' and kainos 'new' means literally 'less recent' because this period has fewer marine invertebrates than the following.

Pliocene, from 5 million to 2.5 million years ago, was named by Sir Charles Lyell and, once again, comes from the Greek. Here pleion 'more' and kainos 'new' was chosen to mean 'continuation of the recent', a reference to the fossil molluscs found within these rocks which are essentially the same as seen today.

Pleistocene, from 2.5 million to just 11,700 years ago, comes from the Greek pleistos 'mostly' and kainos 'new', and shows this is almost as recent as the ages get.

Holocene has only been around sinc 11,700 years ago and means 'entirely recent' from the Greek holos kainos.

These time spans are further divided into periods, epochs, and ages and all with much more imaginative names than simply 2017. Happy New Year.

Summer Holiday

Nothing to do with Harry Webb's film and/or song, I had been plotting 2015's sojourns to the sun when I recalled a couple of words which I would be more than happy to answer to.

One of my favourite parts of the world to visit is the southwest of England, in particular the English Riviera. Indeed I have been so often I more often than not refer to the main touristy thoroughfare - with its succession of gift shops, take-aways, and cheap clothing outlets - just as the locals would know it, Grockle Alley.

For those who are unaware, the term 'grockle' is a less than complimentary term describing tourists. Locals continue to use it and a little research suggests it has recently been spreading along the south coast through Dorset, Hampshire and at least as far as Sussex. One source suggests this came from the The Dandy's strip known as Danny and his Grockle, the Grockle here being a dragon. The reason it is particularly associated with Devon is probably down to the 1960s film The System, the scriptwriter one Peter Draper, who had met Freddie Fly in Torquay and picked up ther term when the latter was working as a barman in the resort. Freddie had previously worked at the boating lake still found at Goodrington and heard it there. There are records of the term being used from the 1970s in the Isle of Man, in Ibiza and even in the former Rhodesia.

Yet dig a little deeper and we find the term did not originate in Devon but had been used in New Forest for centuries. Indeed the term is so old we have no notion as to its origins.

Further southwest we come to Cornwall where tourists are referred to as 'emmets'. This term is not Cornish, the Cornish for 'ant is moryonenn, but ironically a Cornish dialect loanword from Old English aemete or 'ant', a reference to how both seemingly mill around with no apparent destination or goal.

We can trace the origin of the Old English word back to a Proto-Indo-European ai mai which is literally describing an ant as 'the biter off'. Perhaps this should be taken into consideration when using a derogatory term for tourists whose money is the lifeblood of the region - although I quite like being a 'grockle'.

Atmospheric Railway

The idea of an atmospheric railway is not unique to South Devon. Trial routes were tried out in Dublin and in London but the most famous is Brunel’s which it was hoped would take passengers the twenty miles from Exeter to Newton Abbot at up to 70mph.

The idea is ridiculously simple. Rather than have the pump on the rails, which is effectively what a steam engine is, position several large pumps along the length of track to evacuate the air from in front of the piston in the pipe, drawing the piston along the pipe and the carriage, which is attached to the piston, is pulled along.

Two advantages over the traditional locomotive were evident to everyone. Firstly travel on the atmospheric railway is almost silent by comparison, while the lack of clouds of smoke, except at the pumping stations, would have made a refreshing change. A third advantage was not so apparent but probably even more important for these trains could not collide despite there being no on-board driver. That the air refilled the vacuum behind each carriage reduced potential motive power to a degree where it was insufficient to move it until the previous carriage had passed the next pumping station. Practical problems beset the project which could not be overcome with the technologies of the day and Brunel abandoned the idea in 1848 after only a year.

Little remains of the route today, save for a pumping station near Torquay and the more obvious building at Starcross. The latter stands alongside the modern railway and is now home to the local yacht club. On the opposite side of the road we find the pub named the Atmospheric Railway. Here the sign-painter has produced an image which some may liken to a GWR King class locomotive or similar. Clearly this individual never took the slightest trouble to ascertain just what the atmospheric railway was.