The Savannah morning news., 1900-12-05
77777777|"
SAYS THE MAN To THE noe,
"subbOy'" Hut where Does the Rai-
lyiRE Orr Come FRONT


The question Of tho origin and meaning
and true form Of the good word "srhoy."
'suohoy" "sieboy." "stibor'-aud we
cannot stop 10 count how many other
variatons-continues to engage tho atten-
ton Of the enlightened segment OF man
kind Like old Crete. this word rs
many named aud many-e.tiod." aud Ito
mey vas not born Ia halt so many places
All doSs are barking a. the sound OF IL
aud running 81 their quarry All hoss
are sUdntlng at a.. All auti-imperiallst
leagues are eluokinE 81 h. u IL bccenn-
ing as universal as the casing air TO
us u gives pleasure because IL shows
DF the multitude % the letters which Il
urlnss us the Wilderness OF the world OF
philoloslsns ana for the millionth time
the echolarship 90 our readers and their
acute feeling for matters q the mind
out Of these treasures 81 suggestion
We must Ice content TO pick bur a few
where many are ht A Washington
scholar tells as that the halloo OF "stiboi"
TO a hunuug dog 10 the datlve OF the
Greek "stibos a path. and he quotes So
Phooles. BuriPldes and other writers Ia
miliar Ia the classical dictionaries md
Boston TO show that "stibos" was Of good
standing We will pass over his dativc:
tho plural seems the thing: and % may
be that "Stlhoi' IN its sick 'cm' sense
was never heard In the city OF the vioe,
crown
Another correspondent quotes Emer-
son.
Aud have known gentlemen OF great
stake IN the community. hut whose sym-
pathies were eold--PFes.dents % colleges
and Governors and Senators-Who held
Themselves bound 90 sign every tenn
perance pledge. oud act with Bible so
cieties aud missions and peacemakers. and
cry 'Hist-a-boy! to every good dos
Perhaps Emerson was lltge inclined
20 be pedantic or Effected Ia has dlstnc-
ton. Hawthorne or ThoVeau would have
preferred a simpler form. We think and
evan Frank Sanborn would not say Hist
a-hay," in setting on ths dogs o. amt
Imperialism in the Springfield Republican.
A Bedford Park correspondent sends us
hope Tor the "subboy shape
" II ! We're a dog and YOU were hog
a-roOtiug away IN the yard aud che old
man should ray "subboy' 20 the dog,
do you think ! would bite very hsrdg
This is an old country rhyme dating
back q great many years.
Notice that the word means our mod
ern ste EN- and that IL Is suhhoy not
'siubboy."
From Boston comes equal conviction
that "steboy 80 the genuine form.
The STANDARD Dictionary has the In
teriection 'stcboy.' which u defines as q
command or encouragement given 10
dog Ia setting him after = man or animal.
The word was q very common one thirty
years ago. whore was then livlng Cast
Conway. y. HI and was used IN the way
described in che standard Dictionary
But hold on. We must be mistaken
81. afat- -f,..tr oil far " ~
OF Brooklyn writes.
Il was born and brought up len EmeJ-
cone part OF New England. and from
childhood have been familiar with this
form Of the cry. but ouiy ae used 20 Fet
on a dog The standard Dictionary has
the verb mist which II thus defines TO
urge on by making Kissing sound, a..
20 hist a dog The ST which YOU ana
your correspondents use ia the abbrevla-
ton ut boy seems rather to be a minced
form OF this 'hisi and u so. we should
write for 'hist-a-lsay. 'st-a-boy As q
cry or Indictment or command, the verb
'hisr would also appear TO have IT'S in
tFansltlve o. well AZ it, transltvs use
Boys IN the Concord Pale must have
been rather unusually learned and patient
who but che dictionary makers ever heard
OF "histing' a dog The verb "histe" has
It's merits bu; not To- the sense Of ST.
BOY Ate more NHDtakfph aiHu tue agony
IS over for the moment
rs not st boy 500 boy stub boy
or however Il Is spelled a contraction -
stop Il boyy Those Of your correspond
enis. then, who have, apparently, never
heard stob hoy are as correct far
as they go as those who have neyer
heard "a the boy'-but one Is an expres-
son os d.sapproval AID the other OF
pTa1se. Consequently on account Of their
great similarity OF sound tlaay oouhd hard
~ be used eoEefheT. and this would 40
count for the disagreement shown by
these eu2nent geut2ezsen.
weQ. we'll we viii stop. boz. tor the
prossnG. The name 10 many. but ths end
10 one. By whatsoever name the Marquis %
Dsnosso chooses 20 BE called. % is an hoa-
OF 90 meet han.