The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1890-06-29
QUEER FACTS ABOUT OATHS.
How the People Swear and Where the Cuss
Words Come From.

Words Come From.
"You need not have looked severe because
I said that didn't care DAM" said
gruff old senator in conversation with the
Sunday school reporter of the Washington
Star. ''That is not swearing. The express
sion has very different meaning from
what is popularity supposed, and was origin
ated by the Duke of Wellington. A dam in
India is the smallest piece of money known,
and not to care that much means simply
that one is very indifferent. That was all
the phrase was intended to signify.
The word damn from the Latin verb
meaning to condemn, is very different
thing. Curiously enough, it seems almost
invariably to be the first word in our Ian
guage acquired by foreigners, and it has
always been such a favorite with the English
that in the last century the French always
referred to them as the 'Goddams.' dis
tinguished Gallo writer of that epoch said
that English was beautiful tongue and
that 'Goddam' was the basis of it. People
of that nation he remarked have few
other words which they use in conversation,
but the principal one is Goddam. You can
60 anywhere in England if you know that
"a funny misapprehension also exists as
to the expression, Go to the deuce Peo-
pie generally suppose that deuce means
devil whereas as matter of fact it is de-
rived directly from the Latin 'Deus'-'God.'
So, when any one tells you to go to the
deuce he is unconsciously uttering the best
of good wishes for your welfare.
Speaking of Latin reminds me that among
the ancient Romans it was considered the
| thing for each man to have some particular
god to habitually swear by. Some swore by
Jupiter, Others by Mars others still by
Minerva, and so on. The demi- gods, like
Hercules and Castor and Pollux, were also
| 0f IF octo
and Pollux were usually appealed to as the
Twins" - 'By Gemini.'' = the phrase
whence We get our exclamation .By jim
my" 1t was thought very improper for
Roman ladies to swear by the male gods,
but they We're permitted to take the names
that of Venus. In momeats of great ag-
"Mecastor"' by Castor.' The Greeks
swore by the cabbage, which was the
most priced of vegetables, and even to
this day the same oath is often heard
in Italy, while In France a lover is being
intensely affectlonate when he calls the
lady of his heart his petit chou or little
cabbage by jlngo' is from 'Jincoa,' the
Basque name for God. Barbarous tribes
have been accustomed to swear by the head
of their ruler. Queen Elizabeth Ia said to
have been very hard swearer, as ladies were
very apt to be IN her day. Louis X. of
France forbade the use by his courtiers of
such oaths as 'Pardieu,' 'Cordieu,' .Tete-
dieu, and so on; There CHANGED to belong
to one of the ladies of the court small pet
dog named 'Bleu.' The courtiers made up
their minds to swear by the dog instead of
by the Deity, and hence came the parbleus
and corbleus of later times. Pythagoras
had a fayorite oath. which most people
would consider not sufficiently forcible to
be satisfactory. He swore by the number
four, which the Greeks regarded al SYMBOL
izing perfection