Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1889-09-05
VERBAL CURIoSTTIES
FRANK sTAuFFER's RESEARCH AZ
TER THE ORIGIN OF WORDS.

Many ExpsessIons Ehat soanA Awkward
and Redundant Had q Sensible Begin
ning-words That Have Been Twisted
Yet Retain Their Original Significance.
The origin of some wordsi is as peculiar
as the subsequent detection of their
meaning is interesting. The word tariff
had aqueer 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
it and levied duty on the merchandise
carried by the passing ships. This tax
was called "tarifa," which was finally
shortened to tariff. Another word with
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 a 'stoker," or shut
upper!
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, 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 salutation, How do you dor
sounds like an awkward and redundant
sentence, and yet its origin was a sensi-
BILE one. Dow in old English, pro-
neunced do, means "to be able," "to
thrive" 'to prosper" 1t should not
suggest redundancy, for it is equivalent
to saying, "How do you thrive?" "How
do you prosper" The colloquialism,
"He is do-less (dow-less) fellow" had
the same origin, and means one who is
too weak or shiftless to prosper.
| When, as 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. "Aint it cute?' has been adopt
ed by the fair sex to an exasperating ex-
tent. When we hear aspeaker say "sist-
rem" (sisters) we consider him lacking in
education. 1t is as legitimate word as
"brethren." and both words date back to
the time of Chaucer, who. called the
fates ''the fatal sistren." H&
/ RIGHT TO SAY "ANYwHEN."
| If it is proper to say anyhow" and
anywhere, why is it not proper to say
"anywheny' The others merely survived
it, for Mackay quotes the expression, II
will talk the matter over with you any
where and anywhen." "Craft" and
"cunning" at one time stood for "skill'
and "ability." The word ''botch," ap.
piled to a bad workman or his work. is
from the word "bauch," meaning indif.
fercnt. Putting the cart before the
horse" common expression for begin,
ming to do n tlahg at the wrong end
was in use as early as 1888, and first ap
peared in the Greek of Lucien, nearly
100 years ago.
''Vamosc," q slang expression which
came into use after the Mexican war. is
the Spanish vanlos, "let us CO." Tt
"bully," meaning to worry or torment
in o staggering manner, is said to have
been derived from the noisy way ir
Z / which drovers take bullocks to market
Bogus is corruption of Borgese, the
name of man who at one time flooded
the west and southwest with counterfeit
money. Bother is said to have beer
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 th'
English language which passed into :
foreign tongue and was afterwards takel
back in modified form. The Saxol
called it a "tincan," but the Gaul, as i
wont, placed the noun before the adiec
tive, and pronounced the as e, thu
rendering it canteen.. Itbecame Frencl
military term. and the English incorpo
rated it among their military terms. TIL
changes that have occurred in the Eng
lish language Sre remarkable. Coin,
back to the time of Queen Elizabeth, w,
can readily note them. In the time o
Chaucer and Cover, little more than so
years ago, the dialect has half foreigl
look, while as early as the days of Kin.
Alfred it is unintelligible without tn
aid of glossary. S. Stauffer il
Detroit Free Press.