Waterbury evening Democrat., 1903-09-21
ADMIRAL IS ARABIC.
Coxswnin Comes from the welsh and NIate from IceIandic-
 Sea Terms.

Sea Terms.
 How many people imagine that that familiar word admiral" is anything but thoroughly English word? Yet its derivation is skmply "Enir el bagh," which is Arabic for lord of the seq
 There is hardly, language that we have not put under contribution for sea terms. The names of the various officers of a ship illustrates this most ivividly, says Stray Stories.
 Captain" comes straight from the Latin "caput,"" a head; but mate" Is almost identical with the Iselandic "mati.' which means companion or equal
 The derivation of ;"coKswain" would never be suspected. Coxswain was orig finally the man who pulled the after oar of the, captains boat. then. known as cock boat. Cock boat" is corrup- ton of the word ""coracle," and, as most people know, the coracle is 8 small round boat used for fishing on some of the Welsh rivers, such as the, Wye and Usk So 4coxswain comes to us from the Welsh. r.
 "Commodore"tis simply the Italian "commandatore,' 2. or commander. and naval cadet" was originally the French ''capdet," which, going a step further back, has the same origin as the word captain. The reason of this ap- parent anomaly is that originally naval cadets were younger sons of noble fam lilies who, served as priavtes previous to obtaining their commissions.
 There never was such, person as "Davy Jones'" though we frequently hear of his locker. One ought to talk of Duffy .Jonah'ss locker. Duffy is the West Indian negro term, for spirit or ghost, while Jonah refers to the prophet of that name
 Dog watch is another curious case of a term gradually corrupted out of its original form Originally it. was Dodge watch, 2, so described because.it lasts only two instead of the usual 3our hours, and thus makes 1t possible that the, same men shall not be on duty every day during the same hours.
 Sailors call salt meat junk" It is not, 8 complimentary term, for junk is nautical for rope's end Some 1000 y aO1@AS GS3O AoQO0 W0AS AAadO OuLf Ol Uul~ rushes, for which the Latin word is ''juncus." , \. V. Nowadays we talk of port and ..star- board" Originally 1t was '1arboar6 and < "starboard.' Starboard is really 'ssteor bord," Anglo-Saxon for .tsteer side," because in old galleys steered by an oar the oar was fixed somewhat to the right-hand side of the stern, and the ,helmsman. held the inboard portion in his right hand. As for ..elarboard.,' it is probably corruption of lower board, the; larboard side being originally con sidered, inferior to the other. Sheet anchor is the name given to the largest anchor. carried by vessel. Sheet anchor is really tsshote'' an- chor, so called because it can, from its great weight, be easily shot out in case of emergency. .@
 Again, Jury mast" has nothing direct ly o-do with a law court, jury, though both have come from the same original word jour-" the French for day. Jury mast means mast put up temporarily flor a day--just as jury in the legal term implies astribunal summoned for short period only.
 Pirate is literally lone who makes an attempt" The word is Latin in It's origin.
 Boucan. was Caribbean for smoke dried meat The Carihs gave the name to the French settlers in Hayti. who hunted animals and dried their flesh for sale. Then the title descended to the ] Spanish colonists, and finally to, the ] English, buccaneers 4 Ships about to sail fly blue flag with ] a central square of white. This is l termed Blue Peter" but the Peter is derived from the French verb "partir,' 2 l to leave.