Phrases and Names
Their Origins and Meanings
Description:... Comprising well over 4,000 entries, this interesting glossary, first published in 1906, details the origins and meanings of many terms, words, sayings, and place names. Most will be familiar to the modern reader but their origin may not. A few example entries are given below:
Mad as a Hatter. A corruption of "Mad as an atter." Atter expressed the Saxon for a viper or adder. The word "Mad" was anciently used in the sense of venomous; hence this expression really meant "venomous as a viper."
Sardinia. Called Sandaliotis by the Greeks on account of its resemblance to a human footprint; this name was changed by the Romans to Sardo. At a later period the island was called Sardonion, from a poisonous herb, transplanted from Sardis in Asia Minor, which brought about a twitching of the muscles of the face resembling laughter; hence the phrase to "Smile sardonically."
Set the Thames on fire. A "temse" was the old name for a sieve, agreeably to the French tamis and the Italian tamiso, which terms express the same implement. A sifter would require to work very hard indeed to ignite his sieve. Accordingly a bystander often said to him touching his apparent laziness: "You'll never set the temse on fire!" Its punning application to the River Thames is perhaps pardonable.
Wallop. In the year 1514 the French fleet ravaged the coast of Sussex, and burned Brighthelmstone, now Brighton, whereupon Sir John Wallop, one of the best naval commanders of his time, was sent by Henry VIII. to make reprisals. In this he succeeded only too well; he burned twenty-one French coasting villages, demolished several harbours, and thrashed the enemy to his heart's content. His men, however, proud of the achievement, declared that they had Walloped the French; and thus it was that a new synonym for "thrash" came to be incorporated into the English language.
This work is not a cheap scan or the result of copying and pasting; It contains no missing pages, areas of blurred or missing text, photocopier's fingers, coffee stains, or other scanning artifacts. It has all of the original text, retyped and reformatted in an easy to read format. For the modern reader, numerous publisher's notes are inserted to explain obscure and outdated terms.
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