San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1890-06-28
QUEER FACTS ABOUT OATHS.

How the People Swear and Where
the Cuss Words Came From.
"Y6u need not have looked severe
because / said that | didn't care a
dam" said gruff old senator in con-
versation with tBeSunday school re-
porter of the Washington Star.
"That is not swearing. The eX-
preston has a very different
I meaning from what is popularity
supposed, and was originated 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 in
different. That was all the pharse
was intended to signify. The word
damn" from the Latin verb mean
ling Ito condemn" is very different
thing. Curiously enough, it seems
almost invariably to be the first word
in our language acquired by foreign
ers, and it has always been such a
favorlte with the English that in the
last century the French always re-
ferred to them as the "Goddams. +"
A distinguished Gallo writer of that
epoch said that English was beauti-
full tongue and that "Goddam" was
the basis of it. People of that ma
tom, he remarked, "have a few
other words which they use in con-
versation, but the principal one is
Goddam. You can go any where III
England if you know that"
IA 1unny misapprehension also ex-
lists as t. the expression, GO to the
deuce People generally suppose
that deuce means devil whereas
as matter of fact it is derived from
Sthe Latin 'Deus'-'God.' So, when
any one tells you 10 go to the deut Q
hs 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 habitual-
ly swear by. Some swore by Jupiter,
others by Mars, others still by Mi
nerva, and so on. The demi-gOds,
like Hercules and Castor and
Pollux, were also made use OF
in the way of oaths. Castor and Pol
lux were usually appealed to as the
"Twins"-"By Genini v'-the phrase
whence we get our exclamation by
Jimmy" 1t was thought very i'm
proper for Roman ladies to swear by
the male gods, but they were per-
mitted to take the names of the Twins
in vain, and also especially that of
Venus. In moments of great aggra-
walton they might go so far as to cry
"MecastOr ply 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 lover is being intensely a.
fectionate when he calls the lady of
his heart his petit chou, or little
cabbage BY jingo' is from 'Jincoa,'
the Basque name for God. Bar
barous tribes have been ac-
customed to swear by the head
of their ruler. Queen Elizabeth is
said to have been very hard swear
or, as ladies were very apt to be in
her day. Louis IN, of France, for
babe the use of 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
a small pet dog named 'Bieu.' The
courtiers made up their minds to swear
by the dog instead of by the Deity,
and hence came the parbleus and
corbleus of latter times. PythagOras
and favOTate oath which most peO-
pie would consider not sufficien thy
forcible to be satisfactory. He swOre
by the number of four, which the
( Greeks regarded as symbOlizing per-
fiction"