Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1890-09-20
IF you SWEAR
You may BE Interested to Know what
reur cuss Words Mean.

fsur Cuss Words Mean
You need not have looked severe
because | said that 1 didn't care q dam. y
said gruif old Senator. THAT is not
swearing. TIE expression has q very
different nearing from what is popu
larry supposed, and was originated by
the Duke Of Wellington. A dam in
India is the smallest piece of none;
known, and not to care that much
means simply that one is very indiffer,
ent. That was all the phrase was in,
tended to signify. The word damn
from the Latin verb meaning TO con-
denim. is very different thing. Curl,
ousiy enough it seems almost invariably
to lie tho first word in our language
acquired by foreigners, and it has al
ways been such a fayorite with the
English that in the last century the
French always referred to them as the
'Goddams.' A distinguished Gallo
writer Of that epoch said that English
was beautifn. tongue and that God
dam was the basis of it. People Of
that nation. he remarked, have a few
other words which they use in CONVEX.
sation, hut the principal one is God
dam. You can so anywhere in Eng
land if you know that
A funny misapprehension also exists
as to the expression Go to the deuce
People generally suppose that deuce
means devil, whereas, as matter of
fact, it is derived directly from the
La in Deus'-'Ged' So, when any
one is telling you to go to the deuce he
IS unconsciousIy uttering the best of
good wishes for your welfare.
"Sreaking If Latin reminds me that
among the ancient Romans it was con-
sidered 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,
Castor and Pollux, were also made
use Of in the way of oaths. Castor and
Pollux were usually appealed to as the
Twins - by Geminir - the phrase
whence we get our exclamation BY
Jimmy 1t was not thought very
proper for Roman ladies to swear by
the male gods, but they were permitted
to take the names of the Twins in vain,
and also especially that of Venus. In
moments of great aggravation they
might go so far rs to cry 'Mecastor r
BY Castorf The Greeks swore by the
cabbage, which was the most priced of
vegetables, aud even to this day the
same oath is often heard in Italy, Will
in France lover is being intensely af-
iectionate when he calls the lady of his
heart petit chou, or little cabbage
by lingo is from 'Jineoa, the Basque
name for God Barbarous tribes have
been accustomed to swear by the head
of their ruler. Queen Elizabeth was
taid to have been very hard swearer,
as ladies were very apt to be in her
day. Louis TX 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
# the ladies of the court small pet
dog named 'Bleu' The courtiers made
up their minds to swear by the dog in
Stead of the deity, and hence came the
parb.eus and corbIeus of later times.
Pythagorus had favorite oath, which
most people would consider not suffi-
GENTLY forcible to be satisfactory. He
swore by the number four, which the
Greeks regarded as symbolizing per-
lection" e.