Chicago eagle. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1889-19??, 1901-07-06
WORDS AND THEIR HISTORY.
How Some Words Now In Everyday
Use Had Their Origin.

of things. And for such recent num-
Der of st. Nicholas offers a pleasant
repast I'm an article on words and
Their History" by X. W. McAlpine.
In the lives of words. us In the lives
Of men, time brings about many
changes. Words change In form, I'm
stature and in color; they lose the
traits of their ancestors; and vet,
sometimes and somehow, they retain
Just enough of the original to hint at
their beginning and to suggest to the
curious CLEANER In the field of thought
that. though there may be wide gap
between the past and the present of a
word. the gap may by patient effort be
SO narrowed as to be brldged over. and
the difference between the word that
Is and the word that was bc fully nc.
counted for.
To Illustrate this Mr.. McAlpInc takes
as an example the word peculiar" ana
his manner of handling this will give a
good idea of how entertainingly the en-
tire article Is presented. What con.
nectlon IL there, he asks. between this
word and flock of sheep or herd of
cattle? Pccus Is the Latin for herd or
flock. Peculium meant the property
owned by son or slave with the con.
sent of the father or master. 1t was
also the name given to the property
held by the wife rs her own. The bulk
Of this property was herds Of cattle.
In time the word was applied to any
property belonging especially to one
person. 1t was peculiar to himself and
to deprive him dishonesty Of this pc.
culiar property or any part Of 1t to-day
IL to pcculate.
From pecus also comes the word Pc
cuniary. which hns nm Interesting bit
OF history. Pecunla was In primitive
times the wealth Of u man In cattle.
As civilization advanced men required
other things to render life worth the liv-
Ing. and pecunla became the word for
all kinds of property. When money be-
came the medium Of exchange pccuni.
airy came to have reference to money
and money value only.
As peculate ana pccuniary are from
the Latin pecus, herd Of tame AMI
mails. so spoil. which we sometimes
call plumber or booty, Is from spolium,
the skin stripped from the back of
wild animal. 1t used to refer only to
the trophies Of the chase; now any
thing taken from an enemy by force Is
called spells. Other words In com.
mon use In English to-day that have
an animal origin are: Chivalry, from
the French cheval, horse; equestrian,
from the Latin eQu,is, horse; cynic,
cynOsure. from the Greek kuOn. dog;
fiddle. from the Latin vitulus. calf;
capricornus, capricorn, caper, from the
Latin caper, goat; dandeliOr, jackan-
apes, shepherd, cOxcOmb, hArelip. cow.
lick, shceplsh, nquiline, etc.
At first glance 1t may he difficult to
see any connection between veal and
fiddle, but vitulus Is Latin for veal,
ana the middle Latin vitula Is the word
that gave the Italians viola or violin,
ana to us both violin and fiddle. The
word bunting IL from ito bunt," mean
ing In parts of England to slit. hunt
ing being the coarse bolting-clOth used
mill. Here we use bunting as Il name
for the material out of which flags are
made. ana In some cases for the flags
themselves.
Tram, rs applied to certain kinds Of
roads, comes from the name Of Its In
ventor. Outram. monkey wrench from
Charles Moncky, who invented 1t; boy
colt from Captain Boycott, and macad-
amized from John kOudon Macadam.
the originator of this system OF road.
making.
Then we have pantalOons. from St.
Pantaleone, iacre from the Scottish
Saint Fiacre. In front OF whose image
In Paris this common hackney coach
used to wait for fares; and hanson
from the name of Its inventor. Taw-
dry Is but a rough form OF st. Audrey,
whose name was given to IN English
fair whose cheap laces, jewelry and
other tinsel splendOrs Were pcddled
out to bOOrish buyers. Ounce owes its
being to the learned Duns ScOtus. and
atlas to the demigod who was supposed
by the ancients to bear the world ON
his shoulders.
Il Bureau has an interesting evolution.
1t Is from the Latin burrus, coarse
cloth of a bright red color, or from
the French buire. brown, the color of
Il cloth called by the French bureau
This cloth. a sort of druggct. was used
to cover Il table or desk. and In course
|, % Inn hn IA 9
called bureau. Then the word was ap
, piled to the place where the table OF
, desk was used. then to department OF
public business requiring number OF
clerks who used tables or desks al
, their work. Latterly 1t came to mean
body of officials under d chief, FOL
: lowing the use Of board, which was first
, plank, then table made of planks
and then body of officials who sal