New national era. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1870-1874, 1872-12-05
Origin Of Words.
Nety Curious and Interesting Record
Worth Preserving-Colloqnial Changes
The Wild Work Made with Original
Names.

Very Curious aud Interesting Record
Worth neutrality-suspicious. Changes
The Wild Work Made with Original
Names.
Most men, and women too, desire fame, Of
notorety. Yet great name may come to
base uses. st. Etheldreda's name became
shortened to st. Audrey, from whence comes
the word tawdry," signifying cheap and
gaudy. 1t is said that the images of the saint
were so much over-dressed by her votaries,
that they thus unconsciously furnished the
English language with this very expressive
term. And further endorsement was given
to the word by fairs held on ST. Etheldreda' s
day, at which articles of female finery were
sold. Another sainted lady, who lived in
the same century. the Seventh, gives house
hold name to the cat. "Tabby' is said to
come from st. Able. Two towns in England
are named in her honor, Tabley, but come
from the corrupted name, "Tab." Bos-
tom as some few people know, is ST. Blu
tolph' s-town, shortened, and there is in the
American as we'll as the English Boston, a
street named " Butolph," after the saint.
Among the most curious derivations is the
Turkish name OF Constantinople, Stamboul.
The collOquial phrase among the Greeks to
designate the place was "eis ten polin, -" to
the city, OF this the Turks made "Istam-
pol" and finally, STEAMBOAT. In an effort to
produce English words in Turkish characters
Turkish scholar could get no nearer to
"scoundrel" than "asconderel." The trans
formation in this case is as curious as Stam-
boul, pronounced Istamboul, from els ten
polin. York, from the Latin Eboracum.
would seem to present at the first glance lit
tie resemblance to the original. The process
OF change in common usage was something as
follows: Eboracum, Etrauc, Eorforwic, Eorc
York. This is almost equal to the derivation
of the name of pickle from jeremiah King,
Jerry King, Jer. King, girkin. But colloquial
changes are not always to be despised. They
game Leg for lame leg, would at first seem
to be making game of misfortune. The
true word is gam" old English, meaning
defective. We have Cambridges in great
numbers in the United States, in places where
there is neither a river, cam, nor a bridge
Every machinist knows that SCAMP is the
name given TO a piece of machinery which
causes an eccentric motion. The river Cam
is a crooked river.
Names of places in this country are mean
inglcss in their application, except as in the
case OF old towns, showing where the first
settlers came from, like Chester and others.
There are many Nottinghams, but those who
date their letters in those towns do it without
consciousness that they arc noting the fact
that the respected ancestors of some of US
were troglodytes, and lived in caves. Suo-
tinesaham, the original name of Nottingham,
in England, signified "the home of the dwell
iers in caves ;" and antiquarian examinations
have found traces of the residences Of three
cave jewellers. Such are few of the curious
transformations to which words and names
were subject while as yet people were unable
to read. The sound changed the Orthography,
and thus nearly every trace of the original
disappeared in the course OF time. If the
world were in like condition now, with no
printed books and newspapers to preserve
the correct spelling, wild work might be made
even with prominent names. Fel-del-fy
would hardly be recognized by the founder,
could he return. Bawlt-mer would be a puz-
zle to Lord Baltimore. Two other leading
cities, when mentioned together, seem to
have in the sound of their names a dstinc-
ton as to age, namely, New York and Newer
Leans-though the latter loses syllable in
the second word to the enrichment of the
first