The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1873-01-09
The Origin of Words

Most men, and women, too, desire
fame, or notoriety. Yet great name
may come to base uses. st. Etheldre.
da's name became shortened to st.
Audrey, from whence came the word
tawdry." aignifying cheap and galldy.
1t is said that tire images of the saint
we're SO much over-dressed by her votas
fies. That they unconsciotisly furnished
the English language with this very ex-
pensive term. And ftirther endorse
ment was given to the word by the fairs
held on st. Etheldredas day, at which
articles of female finery were sold.
Another sainted lady, who lived in the
same century, the, seventh, gives a a
household name to the cat. "Tabby" "
is said to come from st. Able. Two
towns in England are named in her hon
, or, Tabley, but come from the corrupted
name "Tab." Boston," as some few
people know, is st. Butolph's town,
shortened and there is in the American
as well as the English Boston, street
named Butolph," after the saint.
Among the most curious deviations is
the Turkish name of Constantinople,
StambOul. The colloQuial phrase among
the Greeks to designate the place was
els ten polin," Z" to the city, OF this
the Turks make Istampoul," and,
finally, Stamboul In an effort to pro-
duce English words in Turkish FORM
to scolndrel" than Asconderel. p"
The transformation in this case is as curl
ous as Stamboul, from "eis ten polin. y
York, from the Latin Eboracum, would
seem to present at the first glance little
resemblance to the original.
The process of change in common
usage was something as follows Ebo-
racum, Etracu, Eorforwic, Eoric, 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 mean history. The
common expression, a game leg, for q
lame leg, would at first seem to be max
ing game of q misfortune. The true
word is gam" old English meaning,
defective We have Cambridges in
great numbers i'll the United States, in
places where there is neither river,
cam, nor q bridge. Every machinist
knows that " cam " is the name given
to piece of machinery which causes
an eccentric motion. The river Cam is
crooked river.
Names of places in this country are
meaningless 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 con-
sciousness that they are noting the fact
that the rpSDpctpl ancestors of some of
us were troglodytes and lived i'll caves.
Snotincgaham, the original name of
Nottingham in England, signified " the
home of the dwellers in caves;" and an
tiquarian examinations have found
traces of the residences of these cave
dwellers.
Such are a few of the curious trans
| formations to which words and names
are 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 il
like condition now, with no printed
books and newspapers to preserve the
correct spelling, wild work might be
made even with prominent names. Eel
del-fy would hardly be recognized b!
the founder, could he return. Bawlt
mer would be puzzle to Lord Balti
more. Two other leading cities, whel
mentioned together, seem to have il
the sound of their names a distinction
as to age, namely, New York and Newe
Leans, though the latter loses n syllabl
in the second word to the enrichment o
the first.