The Vancouver independent. (Vancouver, W.T. [Wash.]) 1875-1910, 1881-01-20
NIisnOlners.

miscalled. DR.. E. Gotham Brewer, in
his invaluable Dictionary of Phrase
and Fable" devotes considerable space
to the consideration of this subject, and
he is not the only distinguished writer
who has considered it worthy of his at
tention. A few of the most common err
rors are these:
Irish stew is dish never seen in Ire
land.
Turkeys do not come from Turkey, but
from North America, through Spain or
India The French call them 'dindon, F"
i. e. d'Inde or cog dInde, a term which
is equally incorrect.
Turkey rhubarb neither grows in
Turkey nor is it exported from Turkey.
It grows in the great mountain chain be-
tween Tartary and Siberia, and is Rus
sian monopoly.
Turkish baths are not of Turkish orr
gin, nor are they baths, but hot-air
rooms or therme.
In the code to a Mummy is the
query, SIS Pompey's Pillar really a
misnomer?" 1 will answer that the
noted Alexandrian shaft was neither
erected by Pompey nor yet to Pompey,
but either to Septimus Severus or one of
the Caliphs.
The tube rose is no rose, but the tuber-
GUS polianth (Polianthes tuberosa.)
Again, even the great John Milton was
in error when he wrote
Thick as Autumnal leaves that strew the
nrooKs In Valsmbrnsa
THE trees of Vallambrosa, being pines,
DO not fall thick in autumn, and the
brooks, consequently, are not strewed
with them.
am now writing with a pen, and yet
pen means q feather, from the Latin
word penna, which signifies q wing.
The expression, "a steel pen" is not by
any means choice one.
German silver is not silver at all, nor
was the metallic mixture invented by
German, but has been in use in China
time out of mind.
Japan lacquer contains no lac at all,
but is made from the resin of kind of
nut tree called anacardiaceas.
Brazilian grass does not come from
Brazil, or even grow in Brazil, nor is it a
grass at all. 1t consists of strips of n
palm leaf (Chamerops argetie) and is
chiefly imported from Cuba.
Catgut is not the gut of cats, but OF
sheep.
Sealing wax is not wax at all, nor does
it contain single particle of wax. 1t is
made Of shellac, Venince turpentine and
cfhnabar. The last substance gives it
its deep red color, and the turpentine
renders the shallac soft and brittle.
To the lovers of cigarettes l would say
that rice paper is not made from rice,
but from the pith of Tung-tsau, or hol-
low plant, SO called because it is hollew
when the pith has been pushed out.
Meerschaum is not petrified "sea
foam" AS the word implies, but it is
composition of silica, water and mag
nesia.
Gothic architecture is not the archi-
tectecture of the Cloths. but the eccclesi
astical style employed in England and
France before the Renaissance.
Dutch clocks are not of Dutch, but
German (Deutsch) manufacture. This
is a very common mistake.
Arabic figures were not invented by
the Arabs, but by the Indians.
Blind worms are no more blind than
moles are; they have very quick and
brilliant eyes, though somewhat small.
Baron, idiot and slave.-These are
very common words, and yet we now
use them in far different sense than
they were formerly employed.
Idiot means simply private person,
one 0OC euSdSeu AL uHy pupiiS oASc'
Hence, Jeremy Taylor says Humility is
duty in great ones, as well as in idiots"
(private persons). The Greeks have the
expressions, "a priest or an idiot" (lay-
mani, "a poet or an idiot" (prose
writer). As idiots were not employed in
public offices, the term became synony-
NOUS with incompetency to fulfil the
duties thereof. Greek, idiotes).
Baron properly means q dolt, from the
Latin baro "a thorough fooD 1t was
term applied to Servian soldier, then
to military chief, and ultimately to
lord. The reverse of this is seen in our
word slave Ia servile menial, which is
the Salvonic word "slav" noble. Illus
trious); but the Slavi being conquered
by the Romans, were reduced to the
hard condition of "hewers of wood and
drawers of water.
But probably the strangest corruption
is that of the word "wolf's-bane." Bane
is the Teutonic word for all poisonous
herbs. The Greeks, installing banes for
beans, translated it kuamos, as they did
hen. bane (huos-kuamos). Now VOLTS
bsne is an aconite, with pale Yellow
flower, and therefore called Nhite-bane
TO distinguish it from the blue aconite.
The Greek for white is leukos, hence
| leukos- kuamos; but lukos il the Greek
for wolf, and by blunder leukos-ku-
amos white BEAM got muddled into lux
os-kuamos (wolf-bean). Now science
steps in and makes confusion worse
~~~a~~udnJ Ro<ou,otc caainO the ALI