The Bossier banner., 1877-08-16
Some Queer Derivations.

from all sources, both proximate and /
remote. For instance, its law terms are +
generally derived from the Norman, its /
military terms from the French, its sci
entific terms from the Greek, most OF
its verbs from the German, and the 9th
er partb of speech find their parentage
everywhere. 1t is indeed a wise I'm
glish word that knows its own father
The probabilities of that fathers nation !
ality lie in the following order:
Latin, French, Saxon, German,
Greek, Dutch, Italian, with a more re-
mote possibility of its being claimed by
the Welsh, Danish, Spanish, Icelandic,
Swedish, Gothic, Hebrew, or almost any
other tongue. This complication and
the want of absolute rules of pronun-
citation make the English language SO
difficult of acquisition by the foreigner.
1t is told of Voltaire that while study
ing the English-which he did not adj.
mire-he found thai the word plague,
having six letters, was monosyllable,
and agsee, with only the last four letters
of the same word, was dlssyllablc.
" Pest on such a language, said he, :" |
wish the plague had one half of it, and
the ague the other" 3
Let lis walk into the nearest dry
goods store, and seek for the derivation
of few articles of common use. We.
find most of the articles derive their
names from the places of origin. Thus:
Gingham is from Gumcamp; cambria
from Cambray, muslin from Mosul, di-
aper from D'Ypres, and carpet yet more
remotely from Cairo, where it was first
woven, and tdpeta, the Italian for tap
estry. thus, carpet is really Cairo tap
estry. In similar manner is bayonet
derived from Bayonne.
We call an aspirant for Office n candt
date, because such aspirants in Rome
were compelled to wear. white gowns.
Candidas is the Latin for White. And
when that candidate makes a speech,
we generally accuse him of sotecisms
therein. This is because certain citi-
zens of Attica, who had removed to the
town of Soil, were accused of having
corrupted the language of the Greeks,
whence they came.
We are very proud of our high-sound-
ing name of Fitzjames, but we forget
that Fits is only the Norman form of the
modern fJz or son. So that, translated,
our fine name is, after all, only Jameson.
The Scotch Mac, the Irish o., the Welsh
Ap, and the Russian Uitch, aUitz hof and
off, have the same meaning, rs has also
the ms in Latin, and the MOS il Greek
only that the latter are suffixed, and not
prefixed
See how grotesquely words grow up
in English! There is the common word
pocket-handkerchief. If we trace il
back to its origin, we find it simply ker-
chief or conurechet-a covering for the
head. Its descent to the hand, and
thence to the pocket, is easily accounted
for; but it gathered additional names
as it progressed, and it has become q
very cumbrous word for so trifiing ar
object. The French simplify its name
very much. They call it a naouchoir-s
wtper. s
1t is not generally known that unit
the reign of the Empress Josephine {
handkerchief was never publicly used
by French lady. Its very name was
tabooed in society. 1t was only in tht
beginning of the present century tina
Alfred De Vigny brought the word OF
the French stage in translation tron
Shakespeare, and it was received with In
dignation. Josephine had very bat
teeth, and to conceal them was in tn,
habit of carrying a very small handker
chief, adorned with lace which she con
tinually raised gracefully to her lips
Of course the ladies of the court fol
lowed her example, and the reign of tn,
handkerchief was thus established.
We all know what a nickel is; it i
the equivalent for glass of beer. Blu
where did it get its name? From th
metal of which it is composed; and th
reason that metal is so called is, tha
the workmen in the copper mines O
Germany found reddish metal whicl
was valueless to them, and which they
therefore, imagined was put there b,
that mythical inhabitant of all Germai
mountains, called Old Nick, "in orde
to annoy them. They called the or
kupter-nickes, and the scientists accept
ed this term by giving the metal tn
name ntcolung, whence is nickel B
the way, the Swiss thought they had
new material for coinage when they s.
used nickel some forty years ago, bu
that notion was put to flight by DR.
Flight, of the British Museum, WHO dis
covered in the, numismatic departmen
of that institution several coins bearin
a date of two hundred years befor
Christ, which were evidently of tina
material. There is nothing new unde
the sun. :s =
The letter 2 is not pretty to hook al
nor has it an agreeable name. 1t is, {
no great consequence in the alphabet
alpha, beta, the first two letters of th
Greeks-and might be dispensed wit
altogether. Some people call it s'i il
xa,,G ', xuh;lo o+bo,s, {b;nt +ho% a ,,,1,.o,