Читать книгу Phrases and Names, Their Origins and Meanings - Trench H. Johnson - Страница 5
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ОглавлениеBacchanalia. Roman festivals in honour of Bacchus, the god of wine.
Bacchus Verses. Verses writtenwritten in praise or dispraise of Bacchus, and affixed to the doors of the College at Eton on “Collop Monday.”
Bachelor Girl. One who lives in her own rooms, belongs to a woman’s club, and considers herself superior to what is called home influence--a distinctly modern creation.
Backgammon. From the Saxon Bac and gamen, “back-game,” because the pieces have at times to go back and be moved up afresh.
Back a Man. To have full confidence in him. From backing or endorsing a bill on another’s behalf.
Badajoz. Called by the Moors Beledaix, “Land of Health.”
Bad Egg. A man who is commercially or morally unsound, and therefore fit only to be shunned.
Badger State. Wisconsin, from the name given to the early miners, who made for themselves winter habitations in the earth, like a badger.
Badminton. A drink of spiced claret, and also a game of tennis played with shuttlecocks instead of balls, introduced by the Duke of Beaufort at Badminton, his country seat.
Baffin’s Bay. After William Baffin, the pilot of an expedition sent out to explore this region in 1616.
Bagatelle. From the Italian bagetella, a conjurer’s trick.
Baggage. A term often applied to a woman, because the wives of soldiers taken on foreign service go with the stores and baggage generally. In the United States this word is an equivalent for the English “Luggage.”
Bagman. The old name for a commercial traveller, who carried his samples in a bag.
Bag o’ Nails. A popular corruption of the ancient inn sign, “The Bachannals,” referring to Pan and the Satyrs.
Bag o’ Tricks. In allusion to the large bag in which an itinerant conjurer carried his tricks.
Bakers’ Dozen. In olden times, when bread was sold in open market instead of shops, women took up the trade of selling bread from door to door. They received from the bakers thirteen loaves for the price of twelve, the odd one constituting their profit.
Baker Street. After Sir Edward Baker, a great friend of the Portmans of Dorsetshire, the ground landlords.
Bakshish. A Persian word for “gratuity.”
Balaklava. When settled by the Genoese, they gave it the name of Bella-chiava, or “Fair Haven.”
Balearic Islands. From the Greek ballein, to throw, expresses the Island of Slingers.
Ball. A dancing party received this name primarily from the curious ancient Ball Play in Church by the Dean and choir boys of Naples during the “Feast of Fools” at Easter. While singing an antiphon the boys caught the ball thrown by the Dean as they danced around him. At private dancing parties the dancers always threw a ball at one another as, to the sound of their own voices, they whirled around in sets, the pastime consisting in loosening hands in time to catch it. Afterwards the ball was discarded, but the dance time received the name of a Ballad, from the Latin ballare, to dance.
Ballad. See “Ball.”
Ballet. Expresses the French diminutive of bal, a dance. See “Ball.”
Ball’s Pond. From an inn, the “Salutation,” kept by John Ball, whose dog and duck sports in a large pond attracted a great concourse of visitors in former days.
Balsover Street. From Balsover, Derbyshire, the seat of the Fitzroys, Dukes of Grafton, the ground landlords.
Baltic Sea. A sea of belts or straits. Bält is Norse for strait.
Baltimore. After Lord Baltimore, the founder of the neighbouring state of Maryland.
Baltimore Bird. Though found almost everywhere in the United States, it is said to have received its name from the correspondence of its colours with those distinguished in the arms of Lord Baltimore, the Governor of Maryland.
Bancroft Road. After Francis Bancroft, the founder of the Drapers’ Almshouses, in this road.
Bandana. The Hindu term for silk goods generally, but now applied to cotton pocket-handkerchiefs with white or yellow spots on a blue ground.
Bandy Words with You. From the old game of Bandy, in which the ball was struck or bandied to opposite sides.
Bangor. From Ban-choir, “The White Choir” of the Abbey, founded by St. Cungall in the sixth century.
Banjo. Properly Bandore, from the Greek Pandoura, a stringed instrument named after Pan. The word was introduced into North America from Europe.
Banker Poet. Samuel Rogers, author of “The Pleasures of Memory,” who was a banker all his life.
Banshee. From the Gaelic bean sidhe, woman fairy.
Bantam. A species of fowl said to have been introduced to Europe from Bantam in Java.
Banting. After William Banting, a London cabinetmaker, who in 1863 reduced his superfluous fat by a dietic system peculiarly his own.
Bar. In old days, when a counter did not obtain, and drinking vessels had to be set down on the benches or barrel ends, a bar separated the frequenters of a tavern from the drawers or tapsters. Similarly, at the Courts of Law the Bar was a rail behind which a barrister or counsel had to plead his client’s cause.
Barbadoes. From the streamers of moss, resembling a beard, suspended from the tree branches.
Barbarians. The name universally applied by the Romans to wandering or warlike tribes who were unkempt and unshaven.
Barbarossa. The sobriquet of Frederick the First of Germany, on account of his red beard.
Barbary. The land of the Berbers, the Arabic description of the people of this region prior to the Saracen Conquest.
Barber. From the Latin barba, a beard.
Barber-surgeons. Hairdressers who, down to the sixteenth century, also practised “cupping” or blood-letting, a relic of which is the modern Barber’s Pole. The red and white stripes around the pole denoted the bandages, while in place of the gilt knob at the end there originally hung the basin affixed under the chin of the patient operated upon.
Barbican. That portion of the Roman wall round the city of London where there must have been a watch-tower looking towards the north. Barbacana is a Persian word for a watch-tower in connection with a fortified place.
Barcelona. Anciently Barcino, after Hamilcar Barca, the father of Hannibal, who refounded the city.
Baring Island. Named by Captain Penny after Sir Francis Baring, first Lord of the Admiralty.
Barley Mow. An old sign for a tavern in connection with the Mow or house where the barley was stored for brewing. Mowe is Saxon for “heap.”
Barmecide’s Feast. An illusory banquet. From the story of the Barber’s Sixth Brother, in “The Arabian Nights.” Barmecide invited a starving wretch to a feast, but gave him nothing to eat.
Barnsbury. Anciently Berners’ Bury, the manor of which was held by Lady Berners, abbess of St. Albans.
Barnstormer. A strolling actor. In the old days, away from the regular circuits, there were no provincial theatres or halls licensed for stage plays whatever. The consequence was a company of strolling players obtained permission to perform in a barn. Edmund Kean admitted, when in the zenith of his fame, that he had gained his experience “by barnstorming.”
Barrister. See “Bar.”
Barrow Road. This, with Barrow Hill Place, marks the site of a barrow or sepulchral mound of the Britons and Romans slain in battle.
Barry Cornwall. The anagrammatic pseudonym of Bryan Waller Procter, the poet.
Bar Tender. An Americanism for barman or barkeeper.
Bartholomew Close. The site of the ancient cloisters of St. Bartholomew’s Priory, connected with the neighbouring church, which is the oldest in London.
Bartholomew Fair. The famous fair which for centuries survived the mediæval mart that had given rise to it in the neighbouring street, still known as Cloth Fair. It was held on the Feast of St. Bartholomew.
Barton Street. A street in Westminster built by Barton Booth, the eminent actor of Drury Lane Theatre.
Bashaw. Properly “Pashaw.” See “Pasha.”
Basinghall Street. From the mansion and grounds of the Basings, whose ancestor, Solomon Basing, was Lord Mayor of London in 1216.
Bassano. The better known, indeed to most people the only proper, name of the famous Italian artist, Jacopa da Ponte, who signed all his pictures “Il Bassano,” having been born at Bassano in the state of Venice.
Bass’s Straits. Discovered by Matthew Flinders. These straits were named by him after a young ship’s surgeon, who, with a crew of only six men, in a small vessel, accompanied him on the expedition.
Bath Chair. First introduced at Bath, the great health resort of a bygone day.
Bath Street. From a Bagnio, or Turkish Bath, established here in the seventeenth century.
Battersea. Anciently Patricesy, or St. Peter’s-ey, the manor belonging to the abbey of St. Peter’s, Westminster. The suffix ey implied not only an island, but also a creek.
Battle-born State. Nevada, because admitted into the American Union during the Civil War.
Battle Bridge Road. In this neighbourhood the Iceni, under Boadicea, sustained their total defeat at the hands of the Romans, A.D. 61.
Battle of all the Nations. The battle of Leipsic, 16th to 18th October 1813, so called because it effected the deliverance of Europe from the domination of Napoleon Buonaparte.
Battle of the Giants. That of Marignano, in which 1200 Swiss Guards, allies of the Milanese, were defeated, 13th September 1515.
Battle of the Herrings. From the sortie of the Orleaners to cut off a convoy of salted herrings on its way to the English, besieging their city, 12th February 1429.
Battle of the Standard. From the high crucifix borne as a standard on a waggon by the English at Northallerton, 29th August 1138.
Battle of the Spurs. That of Guinnegate, 16th August 1513, when the French were utterly routed in consequence of a panic; they used their spurs instead of their weapons of defence.
Battle of the Spurs of Gold. From the enormous number of gold spurs picked up on the field after the defeat of the French knights at Courtray, 11th July 1302.
Bavaria. The country of the Boii, anciently styled Boiaria.
Baynard’s Castle. See “Bayswater.”
Bayonet. Not from the town of Bayonne, but because a Basque regiment in the district of Bayonnetta in 1647, surprised by the Spaniards, stuck their knives into the muzzles of their muskets, and, charging, drove off the enemy with great slaughter.
Bay State. Massachusetts, from the original denomination of this colony in the New England Commonwealth--viz. Massachusetts Bay.
Bayon State. Mississippi, from the French bayon, watercourse, touching its great river.
Bayswater. Originally described as “Baynard’s Watering,” being a manor built by Ralph Baynard, one of the favourites of William the Conqueror, the owner of Baynard’s Castle, in what is now Thames Street, destroyed in the Great Fire of London.
B. D. V. A tobacco advertisement which stands for “Best Dark Virginia.”
Beak. The slang term for a magistrate, on account of the beag or gold collar that he wears.
Beak Street. This name has a sportive reference to the magistrate at the neighbouring police court in Great Marlborough Street.
Beanfeast. From the Bean-goose (so called from the similarity of the nail of its bill to a bean) which was formerly the invariable dinner dish.
Bear. Wherever this enters into the name of a tavern sign (with the single exception of that of “The Bear and Ragged Staff”) it denotes a house that had originally a bear garden attached to it.
Bear and Ragged Staff. A common inn sign in Warwickshire, from the heraldic device of Warwick the King Maker.
Bear Garden. This name at the corner of Sumner Street, Southwark, recalls the old Paris Garden, a famous bear-baiting establishment founded by Robert de Paris as far back in English history as the reign of Richard I. A “Bear Garden” is in our time synonymous with a place of resort for roughs or rowdies.
Bear State. Arkansas, from the Western description of the character of its people. “Does Arkansas abound with bears that it should be called the Bear State?” a Western man was once asked. “Yes, it does,” was the reply; “for I never knew a man from that state but he was a bar, and, in fact, the people are all barish to a degree.”
Bearward. The custodian of the bear at public and private bear-baiting gardens. Most English towns anciently retained a bearward. See “Congleton Bears.”
Beats a Philadelphia Lawyer. An American expression implying that the lawyers of Philadelphia are noted for shrewdness and learning.
Beauchamp Tower. After Thomas de Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, whom Richard II. caused to be imprisoned here for inciting the barons to remove the King’s favourite, Sir Simon de Burley.
Beauclerc. The surname of Henry I., on account of his accomplishments in an age when learning was rare.
Beckenham. The home in the vicinity of becks or brooks. The Saxon terminal en expresses the plural.
Bedad. An Irishman’s exclamation, derived from the English “Begad” or “By Gad.”
Bedford. From the Anglo-Saxon Bedican-ford, the protected ford over the Ouse.
Bedfordbury. The bury or enclosed land of the Duke of Bedford. Bedford Street and Bedford Square likewise point to the great ground landlord.
Bedlam. Short for Bethlehem Hospital, a “Lazar House” in South London which in 1815 was converted into an asylum for lunatics. See “Bethlehem.”
Bedouins. From the Arabic badawiy, “dwellers in the desert.”
Beech Street. Said to have been the property of Nicholas de la Beech, Lieutenant of the Tower, temp. Edward III.
Beefeaters. Although it has been proved that the word Buffetier cannot be met with in any old book, the Yeomen of the Guard instituted by Henry VII. certainly waited at the royal table, and since this monarch was largely imbued with French manners, his personal attendants must after all have received their nickname from the Buffet, or sideboard.
Beer Bible. From the words “the beer” in place of “strong drink” (Isaiah xxiv. 9).
Before the Mast. The for’ard part of a ship, where, in the forecastle, the sailors have their quarters. Hence a common seaman is said to “Serve before the Mast.”
Begad. See “By Gad.”
Begorra. An Irish form of the English corrupted oath Begad or “By Gad.”
Beguines. An order of nuns in France, from the French beguin, a linen cap. These nuns are distinguished by their peculiar head covering.
