, 1889-08-03
VERBAL C%URIOSITIES.
FRANK sTAUFFER's RESEARCH AZ
TER THE ORIGIN OF WORDS.

800 49, Of0'N
Many Expressions That Sound Awkward
and Redundant Had n Sensible Begin
ning-words That Have Been Twisted
Yet Retain Their Original Significance.
The origin of some words is as peculiar
as the subsequent detection of their
meaning is interesting. The word tariff
had a queer origin. a promontory called
Tarifa, in southern Spain, juts into the
Straits of Gibraltar and commands the
entrance into the Mediterranean sea.
The ancient Moors built a fortress upon
1t and levied n duty on the merchandise
carried by the passing ships. This tax
was called 'tarifa," which was finally
shortened to tariff. Another word with
u queer origin is the word stoker. In
old English ''steik" means to ''shut,"
and stoke" to "shut up" Chaucer says:
''Then hadst thou the gate stoke" (shut).
The man on the engine who puts the
coal into the furnace, and then ''stokes"
the door, becomes n ''stoker," or shut
up-erl
A coMMoN sALUTATIoN.
The annual fair in the Isle of Ely was
called st. Audrey's fair, and much ordi-
nary but snowy lace was sold to the
country lasses. st. Audrey's lace soon
became proverbial, and from that cause
taudry, n corruption of st. Audrey, was
established as a common expression to
denote not only cheap lace, but any other
part of female dress which was more
gaudy in appearance than warranted by
its quality or value. We now spell the
word "tawdry' and use it in the same
sense.
The s~alutation, "How do you dor"
sounds like an awkward and redundant
sentence, and yet its origin was n sensi-
BILE one. Dow in old English, pro-
nounced do, means "to be able" ''to
thrive" "to prosper 1t should not
suggest redundancy, for it is equivalent
to saying, "How do you thrive2'' GLOW
do you prosper The colloquialism,
"He is q do-less (dow-less) fellow" had
the same origin, and means one who is
too weak or shiftless to prosper.
When, rs Americans, we use the word
cute in the sense of ''clever'' or sharp"
we keep within the legitimate, which
cannot be said when we use it instead of
pretty. "Ain't it cutter has beer adopt
ed by the fair sex to an exasperating ex-
tent. When we e aspeaker say ''sist-
REL" (~sisters) we consider him lacking in
education. 1t is as Legitimate a word as
brethren" and both words date back to
the time of Chaucer, who called the
fates ''the fatal sistren."
RIGHT TO SAY ''ANYwHEN."
If 1t is proper to say "~anyhow" and
anywhere why is it not proper to say
''anywhen?' The others merely survived
1t, for Mackay quotes the expression, 81
will talk the matter over with you any
where and anywhen." Craft and
"~cunning" at one time stood for skill"
and liability" The word ''botch," ap-
piled to n bad workman or his work, is
from the word "bauch," meaning indif-
ferent. Putting the cart before the
horse" a common expression for begin
ming to do n thing ut the wrong end,
was in use as early us 1888, and first APP
peared in the Greek of Lucien, nearly
1900 years ago.
"Vamose," n slang expression which
came into use after the Mexican war, is
the Spanish vamos, "let us CO." To
''bully," meaning to worry or torment
in n staggering manner, is said to have
beer derived from the noisy way in
which drovers take bullocks to market.
Bogus is q corruption of Borgese, the
name of a man who at one time flooded
the west and southwest with counterfeit
money. Bother is said to nave been
first used by a sergeant, who cried out
to two incessant takers, one at each ear,
'Don't both ear me-"
Canteen is one of the few words in the
English language which passed into a
foreign tongue and was afterwards taken
back in a modified form. The Saxon
called it a "tincan," but the Gaul, as is
wont, placed the nou before the adjec-
tive, and pronounced the i as e, thus
rendering it canteen. 1t became a French
military term, and the English incorpo-
rated it among their military terms. The
changes that have occurred In the Eng
lish language are remarkable. Going
pack to the time of Queen Elizabeth, we
can readily note them. In the time of
Chaucer and Cover, little more than 500
years ago, the dialect has u half foreign
look, while as early as the days of King
Alfred it is unintelligible without the
aid of Il glossary.-Frank S. StaufTer in
Detroit Free Press.