Wichita eagle., 1890-03-01

Honour: Men curiously and carefully cho-
sen out from all the 'buddle' and rnasse of
great ones for their approved wisedome !"
The meaning here Is the whole. Oliver Wen
dell Holmes, in the "Autocrat," has the fol-
lowing: 'sHe would like to have the whole
Doodle of them 4 demonstrated against this
word. but the professor said it was diabol-
ish good world, with their wives and children,
shipwrecked on a remote island" Here
again the word signifies the whole lot. AL
though it is 'vile word as Polonius would
say, it is still q ''diaboGsh good word" 1t is
not a nice word, but wien the "Autocrat"
was written, some thirty-five years ago. was
still in good standing.
Among criminals the word seems to have
been first used by counterfeiters to signify
the spurious COIN The Dictionary of Slang,
Jargon and Can't" published in London,
1889, says the word is used in the United
States among thieves to denote only counter
felt coins or bills Technically it is never
used to denote genuine money used for nefa
rious purposes. The "boodler' is he who
carries the counterfeit or queer money,
while the shower is he who passes it off.
cat the first sign of trouble the Doodle car
rier vanishas, leaving nothing to criminate
men of the species called in some places
''Mags men, the word is used to denote
roll of paper skillfuliy rolled in and covered
by greenback or bank note The roll is used
in their confidence games. Among gamblers
doodle" is sometimes used to describe the
pile Of coins gathered In by the winner of the
game.
1t seems pretty certain that the word has
been and is thus used among criminals with
these technical meanings. In its evil sense
''boodle' is defined as money frauduiently
obtained in public service, especially money
given to or received by officials in bribery or
gained by collusive contracts, appointments,
etc, by extension, gained from cheating of
any kind" And again: Sbooty, profit, per-
uuisite, plumber, commonly used with regard
to government contracts, etc, by which the
public are cheated"
1t is also pretty well agreed that the word
in this sense is of American origin. The
Dictionary of Slang, Jargon and Cant, be-
fore referred to, quotes:
Twas Yankee Doodle once, swore,
But it is Yankee Doodle now.
Which sounds as though written by an
American exile in Canada. But though Its
American origin may be allowed it has be-
come domesticated in other lands
But while the word as we have it is thus
identified with the cant of criminals, it still
remains to show how the criminals got it.
THE DUTCH WORD.
Doodle agrees in pronunciation with the
Dutch boedei, signifying estate, possession,
inheritance household goods, stuff, from
which, so The Century Dictionary says, it
NAV have been taken in the Eiizabethan
period in the general sense of the whole lot"
or whole property. There is also a German
word beutel. signifying a purse, which CORE
spends, by the way, with the word buddle Of
the same sense sometimes used in England.
There is Friesic word budel, denoting an
estate, especially a bankrupt estate, and
there is also another Dutch word buidel
meaning a pocket. The old English bottel,
sgnifying a bundle, is probably of the same
family.
All these are cognate words and are either
different forms of the same word or are vari-
ationS OF common root. 1t is not probable
that the New York criminals, among whom
the word doodle" is first found, got it from
an English source. The meaning Of 'buddle,"
as used by Markham, or Of doodle" as used
by the Autocrat, was not sufficiently fruitful
of criminal suggestion to thieves and coun-
terfeiters, although etymologists would find
little difficulty in establishing family rela-
tionship between the doodle" of Holmes and
the doodle" of city councilmen and other
gentlemen Of easy virtue. But thieves are
not troubled with chronological niceties. They
take what they find. words as well as Doodle,
and the New York criminal probably found
in the Dutch boedel, which came to New Am
sterdam with the Hotlanders, word which
survived amid political and linguistic trans
formation, preserved its meaning, stuff,
and finally found its way into the criminal
vocabulary and took on the technical mean
ing we have seen. From this, ike a river
lost underground, it energes when it is want
Ell, considerably Soiled, il is true, but still a
most useful member Of the family philolog
zeal
An examination of the Dutch influence in
New York viii probably strengthen this by
pothesis of the origin of ''ooodlen as we nss
It. The word "stoop' will be called to mind
by many "Blickey,' signifying in New
York and New Jersey tin pail; hockey
denoting a vessel made from q goUrc, a Dutch
word used only in New York. while boss,
another significant word originating in New
York city politics, is probably only another
form OF the Dutcn baas, Sguuying master or
overseer There are, however, English words
which may be the parent of TINS latter
Altogether 1t scans reasonable TO believe
that the Dutch bo-edle, wandering from its
noIuelv uses and put 70 toe evil service Of
thieves and couDter.e;ters, hGs returned like
the prodixal son to tce company Of It's re-
spectacle brothers. The uSe 20 which He have
put the word Is one 70 whjca il has been fttss
by its hong experience among ire criminal
elasseS--sst. LOUIS Post-DlspRtch-
Couldn't Expect 1t,