Esther Dyson

The question of mental capacity comes into question in the case of Esther Dyson. Murder of a child in Victorian times was not regarded as any less despicable than today, but this 24-year-old woman may have been treated rather differently today.

In 1830 Esther was accused of murdering her illegitimate daughter. Bad enough? Maybe worse when you hear she attempted to sever her newborn child’s head with a knife before attempting to hide the body by throwing it in a dam. Appalled? Read on.

Esther was acquitted on the grounds of insanity – although the ‘insanity’ was probably due to her being deaf and dumb since birth. Feeling more lenient? There’s more.

Contemporary newspaper reports claimed her disabilities were rather exaggerated, describing her as ‘shrewd’ and ‘an intelligent woman’ who well ‘knew right from wrong’. In a crowded court at Leeds in March 1831 was asked how she pleaded but failed to respond – so the members of the jury were asked to determine whether the prisoner stood mute ‘by malice or by thr visitation of God’. The jury blamed the Almighty.

One called to give evidence, Mrs Ann Briggs, had known the prisoner of almost ten years and stated she doubted whether Esther had any idea of what was happening in the courts. But Mrs Briggs admitted Esther certainly knew the difference between right and wrong.

The judge, reluctant to try Esther, instructed the jury to decide whether she was insane, in which case she would be detained at His Majesty’s pleasure. This is what happened and the West Riding Pauper Lunatic Asylum in Wakefield became her home from 24 November 1831 until her death on 2 March 1869 at the age of 62.

It is recorded that she was regularly employed as a housemaid, and showed no symptoms of insanity during her more than three decades at Wakefield.

Was she insane? Should she hang? What do you think?

Synonym Etymologies Q

Continuing the look at synonyms through the eyes of the etymologist, this time it is the letter Q and quiet. Coming to English from Old French quiete, itself from Latin quies, and Proto-Indo-European kweie and all with the same meaning as the modern word.

Silent is from the Latin silentem>, but both originally meant 'still, calm, quiet', and not used in the sense of 'without a sound' until around 1580.

Hush is first seen as Middle English huisht with the same meaning. Difficult to know just how this word developed, if it could indeed be considered a word in earliest times, for it seems to have developed as being the sound most easily produced with a minimum of effort. Interesting to note the original hush-puppy is found in 1899 and was a deep fried ball of cornmeal batter.

Mute is from Old French muet 'dumb, mute' and from Latin mutus with the same meaning and related to Greek myein 'to be shut' (as on the mouth).

Dumb is from Proto-Germanic dumbaz 'dumb, dull' and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European dheu 'dust, mist, vapour, smoke'. Note the final 'b' has probably been silent since the 13th century.

Low has been used in this sense since around 1300, it comes from the Proto-Indo-European root legh 'to lie down'.

Muffle in the sense of deadening sound is first recorded in 1761, probably because it referred to muffling the sound of oars using a similar material to that used in the Old French moufle 'thick glove, mitten'.

Faint is used in the sense of 'weak', and comes from the Proto-Indo-European dheigh 'to form, build'.

Confidential is from 'confidence', where the prefix com- precedes the Lain fidere 'to trust', itself from Proto-Indo-European bheidh 'to trust'.

Secret takes two Latin elements: se 'without, apart' and cernere 'to separate' - thus not to tell or impart.

Discreet is very similar to 'secret', with dis 'off, away' preceding cernere.