The Irish standard., 1895-08-03

ss
Latin svord yins the eyebrow. The
habts ltftIr !. syebEo. in scorn corr
Saalrninie' ii an astrological term. If
| waS gonce used to describe the character
of an Individual born under the influence
| Of the planet Saturn,sa malevolent deity
u TO prose once signif1 led to write In prose
| rather than In verse, and a prosy man
was one who preferred to clothe his ideas
in prosaic rather than In metrical FORM
| AL sycophant was once q person who
watched the frontiers Of Attica to see
that no figs were brought In or carried
out without the payment OF the proper
duty. \ 81 K s!. ". q! sa 5as .| a
! than q judgment formed beforehand, the
character of such judgments being best
indicated by the present meaning OF. the
word ~ 8ssifs u VA sat S4i5
A saunterer is believed by some etymol-
ogists to have originally signifed man
without lands, such a person naturally
ployment. I'll Y S is
Garble was originally to Gull over, as
beans or peas would be examined to free
them from pebbles. Wyclife's transla-
tion Of the Bible says that Gideon
garbled his host
L IdT1II Was Cn6s name OF the N1OOlASA
.chieftatn, AbouE al Tarifa, who had a
fortress near the Straits Of Gibraltar, and
levied toll on ships and merchandise
passing through. 55ss
Corpse once meant a body, whether liv-
! ing or dead. Many, old writs are extant
| in which the sheriff or his deputy is COM
manded to bring the corpse Of such a man
| into court.
I The adjective mercurial, like many
others, came into ordinary speech from
the realm of astrology. In astrological
language a mercurial man was one born
under the influence of Mercury, when
Mercury was in the ascendant, and there
| fore possessed Of the mental qualities
| supposed to distinguish the ;heathen
deity OF that name.
| Libel once meant any little book, but as
many small tracts in the early days or
printing were personal and offensive IN
character, the word acquired its present
| significance. .
Yard was once any stick, rod or pole
The expression is still used with this
meaning when applied to various parts OF
ships equipment, as yard-arm, sail-yard,
and the like. A.
| To criticise was originally to pass an
opinion upon, whether favorable or other
| wise, and the fact that most opinions are
unfavorable is indicated In the present
! Specification of the word.
! Knave originally signif1ed only boy,
I then as most walters and pages were
| boys it was applied to male servants,
and as not g. few of them were Of roguish
habits, 1t finally came to mean a rascal.
I Clown was at first a tattooed person.
In Britain and France the country people
retained the habit of tattooing or of
painting the faces in imitation OF tattoo
ing long after it had been abandoned In
the cities.
The word influence at first had an as
/ f>~@1 ncrf1 nil
subtle energy supposed to emanate from
the sun, moon and stars, and to exercise
| some mystic power over the human race.
! Imp once meant a. child. Shakespeare
speaking of the children in the tower,
calls them imps. Jeremy Taylor, in one
Of his sermons, speaks Of "the beautiful
imps that sang hosannas to the Savior In
1 the temple"
The word rival at first meant a brook,
| then was applied to the persons who
lived on opposite sides and quarreled
about the water, and still later it was un-
| derstoOd as applying to contestants ior
any desired object
! Tawdry is derived from st. Audrey. In
the early middle ages fairs were held in
France and England on st. Audrey's day,
and these annual gatherings became
noted for the gaudy and worthless jew
elry sold at them.
| The word sunny borrowed its original
Significance from astrology. 1t described
! a person born under the influence OF the
sun, this lunninary being supposed to ex-
ercise a beneficial influence on the char
! acter of the individual.
| The word topaz comes from the Greek
verb signifying to guess. The jewel was
brought from the east, and reported to
have come from. an island, and men
guessed at the location of the isle which
! produced such beautiful gems.
/ The word scold was formerly applied
or,fn All t17a,~ GOV
as women are notoriously more given to
scolding than men it has come to be linn
ited to the fairer and more linguistically
gifted half of the human race.
The word preposterous originally
meant process Of reversing the natural
common expression putting the cart be-
fore the horse" BY an easy graduation 1t
has come to be used in its present sig
| nificance. -
.'Take no thought for the morrow" is
now understood In an entirely different
manner from that In which it was intend
ed when the King James version was pre-
pared. Then the expression ''to take
thought was universal as a synonym for
anxious solicitude.
Tabby, the name of well-known spe-
! cies Of cat, was formerly atabi, which
was term used to designate a peculiar
pattern in the silks manufactured in Per-
/
resemble the pattern in the silk, hence the
double application of the name.
| Jovial once meant the type OF character
supposed, to belong to all persons who
were born when the planet Jupiter, or
Jove, was In the ascendant. They were
supposed to possess more Of the cheerful
| elements of character than others, and
hence to partake of the benign qualities
attributed to the Father of the Gods.
| Presently formerly meant instantly,
| Immediately and is used in this sense in
scores Of places by Shakespeare and
! other writer's of his time. It is q, curious
Illustration Of the dilatoriness of human
nature that a word which once meant In
|stantly should come to be universally
considered as mea ming after a time.
! The shrew was originally the shrew
mouse, which, when her young were help
| less, would fight desperately in their de-
! fense, and so we'll known was the courage
of this little animal, which would even go
out of its way to seek an enemy at times
when the nest needed protection. that the
word became applied to woman who
was ever ready to seek quarrel.
| The expression blackguard originally
| Indicated the scull1ons, kitchen boys and
| potVashers who brought UP the rear
when a. great mans household was NOV
| inc from place to place. AS these per-
sons were by no means choice in their
language or elegant in their department,
lt11e word was soon applied to those who
In speech or action resenlbled them.
/ The word treacle has undergone an odd
modification At first 1t was applied to
such decoctions of rots or other sub
stances as were deemed beneficial in