The Monitor. [volume] (Woodstown, N.J.) 1884-1892, 1889-09-06
VERBAL CURI0SITIES.
FRANK sTAuFFER's RESEARCH AZ
TER THE ORIGIN OF WORDS.
Many Expressions That Sound Awkward
and Redundant Had Sensible Begin
ning-words That Have Been Twisted
Yet Retain Their Original Significance.

ninC-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. \ promontory called
Tarifa, in southern Spain, juts into the
Straits of Gibraltar and commands the
entrance into the Mediterranean sea,
The ancient Moors built fortress upon
it and levied duty on the merchandise
carried by the passing ships. This tax
was called s.tarifa, which was finally
shortened to tariff Another word with
queer origin is the word stoker. III
old English "steik" means to shut,
and "stokea to "shut up" Chaucer says;
eThen hadst thou the gate stoke (shu:),
The man on the engine who puts the
coal into the furnace and then stokes
the door, becomes q ''stoker," or shut
up-eri
\ coMAeS SALVATION.
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, a corruption of st. Audrey, was
established as 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 s'tawdrya and nse 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-
be one. Dow in old English, pro-
nounced do, means ito be able" ''to
thrive '.to prosper" 1t should not
suggest redundancy, for it is equivalent
TO saying, sHow do you thrive" GLOW
do you prospect" The eolloquialisu,
"IIe 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. ..Ain't it cute:7 has been adopt
cd by the fair sex to an exasperating ex-
tent. When we hear aspeaker say ''sist-
ren" Sisters we consider him lacking in
education. Il is as legitimate n word as
''brethren.n and both words date back to
the time CT Chaucer, who called the
fates "the fatal sistren.
RIGHT TO SAT- .fASYwHEN.n
If it is proper to say -" anyhow and
anywhere" why is it not proper to say
"anywhen?7 The others merely survived
it, for Mackay quotes the expression, 81
will talk the matter ever with you any
where and anywhen." "Craft" and
cunning" az one time stood for 'skilI"
and liability" The word ''botch," ap-
piled to a bad workman or his work, is
from the word Ebauch," meaning indif-
ferent. Putting the cart before the
horse" a common expression for begin
ming to do a thing at the wrong end,
was in use IS early as 1888, and first ap-
peared in the Greek Of Lucien, nearly
1,700 years ago.
"Vamose," q slang expression which
came into use after the Mexican war, is
the Spanish yamos, ''let US CO." To
"bully," meaning to worry or torment
in staggering manner, IS said to have
been derived from the noisy way in
which droyers take bullocks to market.
Bogus is a corruption Of Borgese. the
name Of a man who at one time flooded
the west and southwest with counterfeit
money. Bother is said to have been
flrstused by a sergeant, who cried out
to two incessant takers, ono at each ear,
Don't both earme."
Canteen is orc Of the few words in the
English language which passed into
foreign tongue and WAS afterwards taken
back III modified form. The Saxon
called it a "tincan." hut the Gaul, as is
won't, placed the noun before the adjec-
tive, and pronounced the as Q, thus
renderingi it canteen. It became a French
military term, and the English incorpo-
rated it among their military terms. The
changes that have occurred in the Eng
lislI language are remarkable Going
hack to the time Of Queen Elizabeth, we
can readily note them. IN the time Of
Chaucer ard Cover, little more than 500
years ago, the dialect has half foreign
look, wh;lo as early as the days Of King
Alfred it is uninteligible without the
aid Of a glossary.-Frank s. StaufTer in
Detroit Free Press.