Colloquialisms

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 Colloquialisms. We use these words and expressions every single day of our lives yet never pay them a second thought. Taken out of context the phrase is meaningless. So where do these come from? How did they start and why do they continue to be used today? In this talk put the speaker in the LIMELIGHT and attempt to CURRY FAVOUR or STEAL MY THUNDER as you hear about that OLD CHESTNUT and why these four colloquialisms and many others have come to be a part of the English language. There is a PowerPoint presentation to accompany this talk if required.

A mere taster starts with:

AT A LOOSE END: a nautical term, and when the rigging relied on checking the ropes regularly the captain, seeing the crew standing around idly instead of checking no ropes had worked loose, asked that question.

BLACK AS NEWGATE’S KNOCKER: refers to gloom and doom, rather than colour. The huge knocker on the door of Newgate Prison in London implied the toughness and darkest experience of the age, a simile suggesting the worst of experiences. That really is the knocker of Newgate Prison.

GET ONE’S GOAT: originated in the USA, first seen in print in 1904, transferring across the Atlantic by 1924 when appearing in John Galsworthy’s White Monkey (yes more animals) when he states: “That had got the chairman’s goat! Got his goat? What expressions they use nowadays!” Nobody really knows why this phrase came to be but, and this positively reeks of folk etymology, it has been said that racehorses, known for being skittish, would be stabled or grazed with goats to keep them calm. Unscrupulous individuals, hoping to make a killing at the bookies, removed the calming influence and the horse performed badly – someone gets my goat.

NOSY PARKER: most often said to refer to Matthew Parker, Archbishop of Canterbury from 1559 to 1575. He attempted to learn certain facts about his fellow clergy using certain inappropriate methods. This, coupled with his large proboscis, earned him the soubriquet Nosy Parker. The problem is, he never made inappropriate enquiries nor did he have a prominent conk. This comes from the end of the 19th century, when novelist Mary Elizabeth Braddon edited the Belgravia Magazine and wrote, in the May 1890 edition, “You’re a askin’ too many questions for me, there’s too much of Mr Nosey Parker about you, an’ I’d ‘ave you to know as I’m a laidee.” Not until the beginning of the 19th century did ‘nosy’ begin to mean ‘inquisitive’, prior to that it was someone with a large nose and until attached to ‘nosy’, the word ‘parker’ only ever referred to a park-keeper. Want to know the real Christian name of Parker from Thunderbirds? It was Aloysius.

If you think you know someone who would like to hear me speak on this subject, drop me a line.

Hungary 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 Hungarian cities.

Budapest is, as many will know, two places on opposite sides of the Danube named, unsurprisingly, Buda and Pest and first combined as a hyphenated name as recently as 1831. While the combination is well within recorded history, the origins of the two names on opposite sides of the river have never been adequately explained. Of course, that does not stop suggestions and there are suggestions aplenty. Buda has been suggested as coming from a personal name Bod or Bud of Turkic origin and meaning 'twig'; a Slavic personal name Buda and short for Budimir; a Germanic root of boda meaning 'water'; and the traditional founder Bluda, brother of Attila. Similarly Pest could be the name of the Roman fortress Pession; the Slavic word pestera or 'cave'; or pest 'limekiln'.

Danube comes from a Proto-Indo-European root danu used to mean both 'fluid' and 'drop', the root giving the river its name in many European languages. It has also given us the Scythian and Avestan generic word for 'river' (these spoken in and around modern Iran); for the Greeks it was Istros or 'strong, swift' and related to the Sandskrit isiras 'swift' - these seemingly very different forms do have the same root but appear different in our eyes as the western languages speak of the river as masculine while further east they are feminine. For reasons unknown the Phrygian name (the language spoken in Asia Minor or much of modern Turkey) was very different, and Mataos meant 'the bringer of luck'.

Debrecen is probably from the Turkic word debresin meaning either 'live' or 'move' and also used as a male name, although others will point to a Slavic origin meaning 'well-esteemed'.

Szeged is from the Hungarian for 'corner' for it stands on a bend in the river Tisza.

Miskolc is simply the Slavic form of Michael, also used for the name of the Miskolc clan who first settled here.

Pecs is difficult to see unless we go back to its earliest name, this from the Celtic sop 'marsh' and giving the Roman version of Sopianae. Note this refers to the region and not a single settlement, for not until 871 do we find the first name of the city itself as Quinque Basilicae or 'five cathedrals', this also found in German and Slovak translations of the name. This enables us to see why the root is the Turkish bes meaning simply 'five'.

Gyor was known as Ara Bona 'good altar', shortened forms of Raab and Rab are still used respectively in German and Slovak for this city. Not until the Magyars arrived, settling in the area recently vacated by the Romans, does the Hungarian name, itself a personal name. During the Ottoman occupation the city was under Turkish rule and known as Yanik kale 'burnt castle' for the Turks arrived to find the town burned to the ground by the locals before they left it to the advancing army.

Nyiregyhaza is a composite of two Hungarian words nyir 'birch' and egyhaz 'church'.

Kecskemet is from a Hungarian root keckse meaning 'goat'.

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

Car Manufacturers

A look at the origins of the names of a selection of the world's car manufacturers, past and present. Note, when anyone says 'a selection' they mean 'all those I know' - I simply admit it.

Alfa Romeo - taking the second part first, this remembers August 1915 when the company came under the control of entrepreneur Nicola Romeo, he turning the factory over to making military hardware. Note the name change did not happen until 1920, prior to that the company was still known as A.L.F.A. - Anomina Lombarda Fabbrica Automobil 'the Anonymous Lombard Automobile Factory'. It began in 1906 as Societa Anomina Italiana Darracq (S.A.I.D), not until 1910 when Giuseppe Merosi took over as designer did A.L.F.A exist.

Aston Martin - as with so many it was named after the founders, in this case Lionel Walker Birch Maritn and Robert Bamford. Martin began as a first name, itself derived from the Roman Mars, the god of fertility and war (seemingly a conflict of career options); while Bamford is an English place name (of which I know a little bit) meaning 'the ford crossed by beams', the beam being a large enough piece of tree to be used as a bridge.

Audi - is also named after the founder, one August Horch. The German horch means 'listen' and, when translated to Latin, means 'listen'.

Austin - another named after its founder, this time Herbert Austin. While this is thought of as a British company, there were two others: the Austin Automobile Company and the American Austin Car Company. Both were US concerns - the Austin Automobile Company founded by James E. Austin and his son Walter Austin existed from 1901 to 1921; the American Austin Car Company was founded in 1929 and ceased trading in 1956, and named after the British company or, more correctly, their Austin 7 for which they had rights to manufacture and sell a modified version suitable for the USA. As a surname it is a diminutive of the Latin 'Augustus' meaning 'majestic, dignified'.

Bentley - founded and named in 1919 by Walter Owen Bentley. Another English place name, and one meaning 'the woodland clearing where bent grass grows. If you want to know why grass grows this way, you'll have to buy a book!

Bertone - an Italian company founded and named after designer Giovanni Bertone. His surname means 'son of Roberto'.

Bitter - a German, and later Austrian, car manufacturer and named after former racing driver Erich Bitter. His surname means 'harsh, sour, embittered'.

Bugatti - named after founder Ettore Bugatti. Origins of this surname are unclear, but it would be nice to think the suggestion this comes from the same origin as Bogat and Buratto meaning 'bolting'.

Buick - also named after its founder, David Dunbar Buick. This is an alternative spelling of the English name Bewick, itself an English place name and likely means 'the farmstead specialising in barley'.

Cadillac - again named after the founder, one Antoine Laumet de la Mothe sieur de Cadillac, the surname originating in the Breton area of France describes a 'a small one but a strong fighter'.

Chevrolet - named after the founder Louis Chevrolet. This name is a diminutive of the French chevre meaning 'goat'.

Chrysler - again the founder, named after Walter Percy Chrysler. This is a Swiss surname and means 'maker of earthernware utensils' - ostensibly a potter.

Citroen - founder here was Andre-Gustave Citroen. The surname was adopted by his father Levie Citroen, after grandfather had taken the name Limoenman 'lime man' as he was a greengrocer who sold tropical fruit. Son Levie preferred citroen, the Dutch for 'lemon'.

Cowley - named after the place in Oxfordshire where the cars were made, the English place name means 'the woodland clearing where cows are reared'.

Daimler - after Gottlieb Daimler, this is an old southern German word meaning 'cheat, swindler'.

Dodge - named after founders John Francis Dodge and Horace Elgin Dodge, brothers whose surname is thought to be a pet form of 'Roger', itself from the Saxon Hrothgar or 'fame spear'.

Ferrari - named after founder Enzo Ferrari, a former motor racing driver whose surname originates in his ancestors' trade - they were blacksmiths.

Fiat - named after Mr Fiat, no I lie - many will already be aware this acronym stands for Fabbrica Italiana Automobil Torino or 'Italian Automobiles Factory, Turin'.

Ford - after founder Henry Ford, whose surname is as synonymous with cars as the origin is to a river crossing. This comes from Proto-Indo-European prtu meaning 'a going, a passage'.

Hillman - founder William Hillman, not only an English place name but also an occupational name meaning 'a manservant' and a personal name 'a man named Hild'.

Honda - founder Soichiro Honda, whose surname comes from the Japanese hon ta quite literally meaning 'the origin of the field'.

Humber - founded by Thomas Humber, an English place name or correctly a river name meaning ''the dark river'.

Hyundai - not from the founder but a Korean word meaning 'modernity'.

Isuzu - takes the name of the Isuzu River which, when translated into English means 'fifty bells'.

Jaguar - began as the name of a model of a 3.1/2-litre two-seater sports model produced by S.S.Cars Limited, themselves formerly known as the Swallow Sidecar Company. In 1945 shareholders decided that S.S was not the most sensible name for a company and so they adopted the name of Jaguar instead. It was the powerful image of the leaping big cat which adorned the model of that name, later adopted as the image of Jaguar Cars. The cat's name came to Europe as the Portuguese jaguar, itself their rendering of the Tupi jaguara and used to refer to any large predator.

Lada - having any number of references - including settlements in Romania, Poland, and Spain, a rifle, an asteroid, a highland region on the planet Venus, two Russian sports teams, a class of submarine, and even a sewing machine - these should have a single source, almost certainly the Slavic goddess of harmony, merriment, youth, love and beauty whose name comes from the Proto-Slavic meaning 'pretty, nice' or 'order'.

Lagonda - is named after the Shawnee name for what is now known as Buck Creek in modern-day Springfield, Ohio the birthplace of forder Wilbur Gunn. It is thought lagonda should be loosely translated to 'ultimate luxury'.

Lamborghini - from its founder Ferrucio Lamborghini which is one of many variations on the surname Lambo or 'son of Lambert', which comes from landa 'realm,estate' and berhta 'famous, illustrious'.

Lancia - named after its founder Vincenzo Lanzia, whose surname comes from his ancestors being armourers or, more specifically, a soldier who carried a lance from the Latinlancea.

Leyland - is an English place name meaning 'untilled land'.

Lincoln - named by founders Henry Leland and his son Wilfred Leland after Abraham Lincoln who, aside from his more famous roles in laying railways, chasing vampires and guest appearances in the majority of science fiction television programmes of the sixties, also found time to become president of the United States of America. His surname comes from the English place name meaning 'the Roman colony by the pool'.

Lotus - is a brand name, one also used for a board game, a bakery, a watch, rice, software, a chain of supermarkets, and a brand of toilet paper. Many were likely suggested by Greek mythology, although there are so many plants known as the 'lotus' (and bearing little resemblance to one another) it is difficult to know just what the name describes the plant as. The plant genus lotus comes from lota, the name of a sphrical water vessel used in southern regions of Asia.

Maserati - founded by brothers Alfieri, Bindo, Carlo and Ettore Maserati (it seems they couldn't think of one beginning with 'D'), their surname origins are unclear. However one suggested translated likens it to the English 'macerate', a word I have no recollection of hearing and thus looked in the good old Oxford English Dictionary to find it has two possible meanings: 'to waste away by fasting' (fast = speed, I can see that); and 'to become soft by soaking' (I shall refrain from commenting).

Mazda - for years my first thought when hearing 'Mazda' was a light bulb, but you do have to be of a certain age to recall that name. The car company state their name comes from Ahura Mazda, with ahura the word for 'god' and mazda meaning 'light' - so the light bulb was right.

Mercedes - founded by Austrian diplomat Emil Jellinek, he named the company after his daughter Mercedes Adrienne Ramona Manuela Jellinek, who lived a rather sorry life. Her name comes from the Spanish title of the Virgin Mary, Maria de las Mercedes, or 'Mary of the Mercies'.

Morgan - named after the company's founder Henry Frank Stanley Morgan, his surname a first name with an uncertain etymology. What is known is the Welsh for water sprites is 'morgans'.

Morris - named after founder and former bicyle manufacturer William Morris, a surname from the first name Maurice, itself from the Roman Mauritius a derivative of Maurus meaning 'a Moor'.

Nissan - is an abbreviation of the Nihon Sanhyo holding company, it means 'Japan Industries'.

Oldmobile - have always thought this the worst possible name for a car manufacturer, even though it is named after the founder Ransom Eli Olds whose surname comes from the Old English eald meaning 'old'.

Opel - named after founder Adam Opel, the origin of his surname is unknown.

Packard - named after founding brothers James Ward Packard and William Doud Packard, their surname comes from a French derogatory term for a 'peddler'.

Peugeot - founded by Armand Peugeot, sadly the origins of the surname is unknown.

Pontiac - takes the name of the Michigan city named after the war chief of the Ottawa people and whose name comes from the Algonquian Obwandiag thought to have three possible meanings 'stopping it/him' or 'a stick planted in the ground' and even 'spit roasted, boiled'.

Porsche - the surname has Slavic origins and means 'famous fighter'.

Reliant - is an odd name for a car because while it was clearly chosen for being 'reliable' the word actually means 'dependent upon' and not 'depend on'. Originating from Old French the word first came to English to mean 'binding' from the Latin religare and shares a common root with 'ligament'.

Renault - founders Louis Renault, Marcel Renault, and Fernand Renault share a name derived from Germanic sources and meaning 'counsel, rule'.

Rolls Royce - taking the names of founders Charles Rolls and Henry Royce, their respective surnames respectively come from: Germanic name Hrolf meaning 'wolf'; and ultimately a variant of 'rose' which, because of its thorns, means 'wicked'.

Rover - clearly suggesting something that 'roves, travels', the real meaning is 'to wander with no fixed destination' and used in its earliest sense to refer to arrows shot willy-nilly without a target. Furthermore the first use of 'rover' is as a Dutch word meaning 'plunderer', robber, predator' and even 'pirate'. Interestingly the names for 'bicycle' in Polish and Belarusian are derived from the company name, the company did once produce bicycles.

Saab - is an abbreviation of Svenska Aeroplan AB, where 'Sweish Areoplane' is followed by (much as Limited is abbreaviated to Ltd) AB or Aktiebolag meaning 'limited company' or 'corporation'.

Studebaker - a German name, the family arriving in the New World at Port Philadelphia on 1 September 1736 included Peter, Clement, Henry, Anna and Anna Studebecker. They set up business in Pennsylvania producing waggons but having tweaked their name to Studebaker - both meaning 'baker of fine white bread'.

Suzuki - named after founder Michio Suzuki, whose surname means 'bell wood', 'bell tree' or 'bud tree'.

Talbot - named after Charles Chetwyn Talbot who, after a successful business operating hansom cabs (and cabs with the first noiseless tyres seen in either London or Paris!), went on to produce motor cars. His surname is thought to be of Germanic origin, where tal 'destroy' and bod 'message' talk of him as a 'messenger of destruction'.

Toyota - named after founder Kilchiro Toyoda whose surname means 'fruitful rice paddy'.

Vauxhall - named from the English place name meaning 'hall of a man called Falkes' the perosnal name meaning 'falcon'.

Volkswagen - is, as virtually everyone knows, the German for 'people's car'.

Volvo - is the Latin for 'I roll', a refers to the (then) unique ball bearings used in manufacturing. The idea it is derived from a part of the female anatomy is about as credible as it being named after the character Volvo in the episode of Fireball XL5 entitled Planet of Platonia.

Hence car buyers may well be correct when describing their purchase as a 'lemon, cow, goat' or describing the seller as a 'daimler' I mean 'cheat'. The piece is written in English hence the English spellings.

Goat and Compasses

When discussing the origin of words, and in particular place names and pub names, it is amazing how often I hear alternative explanations which have no truth in them whatsoever. Irritatingly these alternatives are invariably far more entertaining than the true explanation, thus making them virtually impossible to eradicate. Some months ago I discussed the origins of the Elephant and Castle on this blog and recently came across another pub name which has had several explanations offered, all of which are quite wrong but are far more interesting than the truth.

Even if taken completely out of context the unique language which produced the name of the Goat and Compasses can only refer to a pub. Typically with such apparently nonsense names there have been several suggestions as to its origins, the only link between them being they all agree there has been a corruption of at least one of the elements. The most common explanation suggests this began as ‘God encompasseth us’, this entirely down to the nineteenth century novel Framley Parsonage where Anthony Trollope states this as the origin of this apparently meaningless name. Note this is a work of fiction and so is the explanation.

A second explanation accepts the ‘Goat’ and suggests this has exactly the same origin as the term ‘scapegoat’. Many cultures once believed the goat a boon for any farmer to keep alongside other livestock, this suggesting it could well have its origins almost at the very beginning of farming. The very presence of the goat meant any ailments, misfortunes or bad spirits would be attracted to the poor goat, while the rest of the livestock could enjoy life to the full. In later years a goat would be led around a house where sickness had taken hold and for the same reason.

The real explanation is hardly so convoluted. As with so many pub names the answer is heraldic, in particular the coat of arms of the Worshipful Company of Cordwainers. Examine the image and note the chevrons, quite easy to see as a pair of compasses used by many tradesmen including the cordwainers or leatherworkers, alongside the head of a goat. The earliest cordwainers used the hides of goats from Cordova in Spain, which is how they got their name and how the pub became the Goat and Compasses.

Literary Assassination

November 2013 marked fifty years since the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in Dallas, Texas. I am always interested in how such moments in history were covered by the media and spent some time viewing old reports. Later I looked back to April 1865 and the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Many parallels have been drawn between the two men and the number of coincidences surrounding both their lives and deaths.

One comparison which cannot be drawn between the two is in the media coverage. In 1963 instant communication methods meant the news was reported in the United Kingdom at almost the same time as it did in the USA. A century earlier it took days for the news to filter through and newspapers, at least in local terms, were produced weekly and reports of President Lincoln’s death appeared, in real time, after the ten-day search for John Wilkes Booth had ended in the killer’s death. This also tempered the mood of other reports: in 1963 even the sports pages lacked the usual exuberance, in 1865 columns went unchanged. Alongside the belated reports of the assassination and its aftermath I found the following stories.

No mention of Lincoln’s assassination was found in the first newspaper after the 14th April, news had yet to filter through. However the mood of optimism across the Atlantic was covered, with a mention of how American newspapers had seen the appearance of four eagles circling the Statue of Freedom atop the Capitol Dome in Washington DC. This could only mean a good time for all lay ahead under the new presidency. Note this was simply the local rag repeating what had been printed in US newspapers.

A rather odd story came from Prussian Poland, where but two passenger trains ran between Lissa and Posen each day. A similar number of livestock trains were seen daily but government legislation banned any human passengers save for the handlers of the livestock, for which a perfectly acceptable carriage was coupled up. There were no exceptions to this rule, even medical personnel had been turned away resulting in a number of deaths. It was not clear how many, if any, could have been saved had the doctor been allowed to travel. An enterprising German innkeeper saw a possible loophole and purchased advertising space at the station offering his goat for hire. For the equivalent of sixpence (equivalent of £2 today) for every station travelled in each direction this would allow any passenger to travel on the livestock train. The advert also pointed out the goat could be handled by anyone being “so tame it could be controlled by just a slender silk ribbon.”

Silly season sees all sorts of weird stories being covered. Yet surely we could never be so desperate as to include a conversation such as that following the announcement of an engagement. It seems the lady had been asked time and again just why she was contemplating becoming Mrs (name withheld), when he was clearly so different from other men? She responded the questioning with: “Well if he is very much unlike other men, he is more likely to make a good husband.”

A similarly odd subject was covered in the story of a letter written by a lady from Bristol. It seems Alice had written to a well-respected gentleman of the city, stating how she had tried time and again to be formally introduced to a man she had admired from afar adding, “If you are wondering why a mere girl such as I would wish to meet a man of your stature, meet me at the post box outside the chapel at 7:30 that Sunday evening.” No Victorian gent could ever entertain leaving a young lady standing around and so he turned up. He was not pleased to discover he was one of between thirty and forty gentlemen milling around the post box trying to appear nonchalant. For reasons I have yet to fathom they were still there at 8:00pm when the congregation emerged from the chapel. It was suspected Alice was among those emerging from the chapel as there seemed to be a lot of giggling and glances in their direction.

Another post-war story was covered, that of a US deserter. An Irishman by the name of James Devlin, having enlisted with the Union Army, deserted and was subsequently reported by his wife, who collected the reward money. However he could not be found and no wonder for he had re-enlisted under an alias. This alias was also being sought as a deserter, furthermore his wife had also given evidence against her husband and claimed the reward money. Yet again the deserter could not be found, for Devlin had enlisted a third time under yet another alias and had been turned in by HIS wife who, you guessed it, had again received the reward money. What was proving to be a lucrative ruse came to light when Mrs Devlin found her husband had deserted her and was enjoying the ill-gotten gains with another woman. This time she gave factual details as to his whereabouts and he is subsequently arrested. However she regretted her actions when she witnessed him being led out to face the firing squad within the confines of the army camp on the island. It was said her screams and sobbing could be heard across the water on the mainland.

How many of these would be considered world headlines today?