Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1894-04-01
Words of Virginia Birth.

The debt that the world owes TO
Virginia for promoting the cultivation
Of the tobacco plant has been pretty
generally recognized despite the many who
have initiated King James since his IA
nous "Counterblaste" appeared. But
Virginia has given far more to the world
than the Virginia leaf; it has en-
riched our tongue with words that bear
the flavor of our own soil.
The evolution of many Of these happy
| terms Of speech is traced by Edward Es
gleston in an interesting article, "Wid
Flowers Of English Speech in America"
| which will appear in the April number
Of the Century. Much Of Or. Eggleston's
article is taken up with the many words
| called into use by the discovery OF maize
known first as Turkish. and then as In
! dian corn. lie says:
In the great maize region Of the United
| States green corn, whether raw or cook
ed ard whether cooked by roasting In
front Of the fire. or by boiling. is called
roasting ears" shortened In pronuncia-
ton to 70 sln-ears The word is in Bev-
crly's Virginia" O7Uol. and is current
through the whole of the middle belt and
the South. The pollen bearing head Of the
plant 50 graceful while ii Is green and
plant. was named the "tassel" and TO
this day our country people, when speak
ing Of the male flower Of the maize pre-
serve the broad vowel Of their ancestors;
'tossell" il will remain in spite Of the
schoolmas.er who gnoranty makes war
on archaiSmS Of speech. In DE Brahms
History of Georgia the branches Of
certain kind Of pine are said TO be bare
Of Leaves except their Ends. where the
Leaves 80 out in a Bunch and resemble
a Tossell." II seems a matter for regret
that this ancient orthography has not
been retained for the head of the Indian
corn. The piatiiate flower Of the maize,
SO different from anything ever seen be-
fore by the newcomers, was appropriately
called the silk and these two names for
the maize flowers indicate that the pio-
neers were not without sense of the
beauty OF this highly ornamental plant.
But the ear probably puzzled them
| most, for except the grains, the parts
| were very strange. To begin with, En-
| glish furnished no name for the envelope
| with which the ear wrapped itself as an
| Indispensable safeguard against drought,
| birds. and insects. Strachey. secretary To
| the Virginia Colony when II was two
| years old. calls maize "pOketaws," and
| says that every ear groweth with a
| great hose about IT,"
| Bartlett whose book is Enthusiastically
| for middle and southern speech, is surely
| wrong i'm saying that "huss-bran" I'm In
| diana is used for cob" Ii is dangerous
TO assert negative, but / doubt If the
compound "huss-bran" is ever used by a
| Hoosier in any sense. nor have / ever
| heard It elsewhere. This definition APP
| pears 10 be a confused recollection Of n
fact which stated in a newspaper ar
| ticle printed about lSG9-namely, that in
| one part, at least, OF Eastern Virginia,
| "hus" always. SO far as l know. with
| out trace OF a k) was used for the cob
| OF Indian corn. 1 have heard a school
boy threaten TO throw "a corn-huss" at
a companion; and have heard glossy
faced negro lad break out with: "Yeh
| betteh take keeri l smack yeh n de
| mouf widda cawn-hus' ef yeh doan shet
up dattah foolln 'roun' me-" This use
OF the word has. believe. become obso-
lete since the civil war. CBy no means
Editor of the Dispatch.) II the use OF
'hus' husk) for cob" was common
In the Virginia Colony. we may infer
| that IL was the name given very early
| 10 the spike on which the grains OF In
| dian corn grow, though John Smith calls
| II only the core OF the ears" The
empty spike OF wheat or other grain
with the chaff attached was probably
called the "husk." or "hus' " In English
rustic speech. / feel very sure that
''cob" had some such use. for none OF
the numerous senses given to cob In