Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1883-07-10
OF TIE DEMI.JOBN.
CObwebs Wiped OF and the Ar
ticle Set Jptn Its True
COlOrs.
N. Y. Tribune.

Ii has been a subject of much men
tai torment 10 the lovers of good
whisky that the origin of the word
demi john has hitherto been yelled in
an awful mystery. The demi-john, as
the votary of the American Baochus
OF Bourbon county, Kentucky, we'll
knows, is large glass bottle shrouded
in wicker covering. This answers a
double purpose. 1t prevents the
bottles being broken by any sudden
jar and upset such as are unavoidable
in even the best regulated fishing par.
ties, and it mitigates the ferceness Of
the solar ray, and preserves to the
liquor within reasonable degree of
GOODNESS. 1t has long been obvious
that the term demi John was mean
ingless, since there never was a re-
ceptacle for good liquor called John
or Janathan, of which the demi john
could be considered the half. More.
over, had there been John or Johns
ME, it would have been far more in
accordance with the feelings OF Bour-
bonites to have used it exclusively and
not resorted TO halt measures. But
demi john may be either large or
small, and still be demi john. So
that the fond hypothesis that it means
a half john or johnnie fades away
utterly and cannot be maintained.
Another school Of philologists has
asserted that the word demi John is a
corruption of the French word dame
jean, which signifies precisely the
same thing, but the object in question
among the less civilized French gen.
orally contains only oil, or vinegar, or
under the most favorable circumstanS
ces a dreadfully thin wine called
piquette, made from the pomace Of the
pressed grapes Cider, often found in
American demi johns, is never placed
in the French dame-jean, but is hon
ored with confinement in pitchers Of
stone ware carefully sealed.
That demi john nigh be a cor
ruption of hame jean is a plausible
hypothesis, but upon investigation
dame jean is altogether as meaningless
in the French language as demi- john
ia 10 the English; nor are there any
reasonable grounds for believing that
the use of the article is older in one
country than the other.
The truth is that the word belongs
to no European language, but has been
adopted like tea, sugar, coffee, and
other articles which come from East
ern sources. Demi, john dates from
the Ocusades, and was brought from
Egypt, where such articles were and
are sud called flanagan" What is
still more singular is the fact that the
custom Of surrounding glass bottles
with wicker-work dates from verl
early times in Egypt. Upon trescoes il
tombs at Benz Hassan there are no
only representations of wine in glas
Sceptacles, but also Of oil bottles al
most precisely like the TASKS from
Lucca and Bordeaux, surroundet
with a similar protection made Of sim
liar materials, rushes, papyrus, ant
wicker. work of fine kind. Nopictur
has been so far recorded of the actua
demi john at that early date 5000 B
CO., but as we have the finer variety o
the article we cannot doubt that tn,
coarser one existed also. Egyptial
wine was stored in amphoras, and tn
demi- john was a coYenient hslf-Wa!
measure between the clumsy, hug,
amphora and the delicate glass vesse
in WHICH it appeared at the table. s.
that the beloved demi john il of tn,
most respectable ANCESTRY, aud helC
its own ilthe worlds earliest civil
cation.