The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1910-11-28
"aS DsEP IS GtRRRk."
History sf . Phrsse sf Reasonable An.
tiuuify.


tissnity.
Frog NJ Nlas'DsH'h Csnf4ry
The way country folks twist words about
II amazing N an example We TAX. th'
! curious comparative formula. which Is
ii-ly employed la the Midland- rnd in
I colnshirp. a. we'll "a In surrey. SuIs-eV and
Cornwall 10 express the ne plus u'trR nj
mental a-iuten.-- aud prufund,tv, v dr-I
~ GsTrick The present shaps Ut the
phra-" - due no doub' To IN" fame ~ h'
cr"a' actor. Nhr Il had reached n" ears al
he rpsfiCs and bs,Ome a byv ord for clever
intpersonai ion aud versatile genus hut
The wording here. so ObN iou-ly modern
IL only q varying or r'-hap'ng. und-r IN"
influence ot folk etymoloSy. Of a much
| older expression
This 10 implied bv the great variety of
forms which the saving takes ia other dlA
lsc's In UloUceS' erShirs II APPEARS "
deep As Garry. ia llaNerfOrdw est "NS deep
as Garrsr'. elsen hero As deep a. GsrlicA
This wide dify'lSion ia so MANY unm.su ny
varieties indicates that all these phrases
alike are surviNsls Of some Ineligible old
World saw long since forgotten
The cline. II We mistake not, IL tO he found
preserved IN the form GarratI. used nv the
Pembroke folk. In Ireland Garr-J and
Garry. otherwise Girudh or G-HrOIdh. are
varlants Of Gerald or Gerard The tNO
names seem 20 he Identical but the latter,
as used In folkiore Ia the word with which
We are now concerned In medieval Eng
land Gerard Tor Gerard had for som. rsa
son come TO b. ANONYMOUS with the dewitt
In tho Cursor NIndi. a Nor, hImbrlan poem
OF the fourteenth century. the Circumstance
OF the Jews receiving th. d-y Il or Anti-chTist
when hey thou xht they w-rerecciNlnx Ihr,s'
IL thus expressed:
Thai rrtsf A.
Anu ssl rrceIuc the s,rg'd s'rsn<.
where the Fairfax manuscript gives for The
latter line:
And sale r-sc-ige s-ul ~ strange
Similarly. a poem attributed 20 Richard
Role Of Hampole. early in the fourteenth
century. has
Gerard him self al glS The a Smit
Ats bak as him self makes lac the Tx
In French IL appears 20 have the ~ me
meaning in popular legends. "a Collin d.
Plancy gives Gerard le dIable' In his
Dictionnaire Internal uss1. There can
he little doubt then that the original form
OF the folk saw. now 40 badly distorted. must
have been As deep as Gerard. or a. Gar
ret. which 10 the same thing that IL. 10 say
az cunning and secret as this devil. for lie
diable est trop subth- SAYS an old French
proverb.
We have here also the probable eSplana-
tion OF Somerset saving given bY Ray IN
his Proverbs led i7t:. page III Her.
IL Gerards bailir work or you must die
with cold. the messenger Of Satan will
not be trlhed with. Another form Of this
dlabolio Garret may be recognized IN the
Gearoidh laria. or Earl Garfst or Gerald
Of Irish legends. a master ~ enchau' ments
or. as Mr.. Kennedy puts IL aptly for our
purpose. deep in the black art who is
still sleeping. like Barbaros-n. "a charmed
sleep in cavern beneath tho Rath ot Nnl-
lagbmast. once every seven years he rides
round the Curragh Of kildare, and h- l. vet
30 be king OF Ireland Garry Gaerlaug. 'h.
warrior who sleeps in The enchanted fort OF
Ardee. IL evidently the same parsonage
Having traced the phrass 80 far ~ the
stream OF time. We nigh he. content 20 stop
here But We are tempted 10 pursue our
Investigation further and 'o inquire how
Gerard cam" =" h" used ~ a synonym tor
the devil II W. can find an answer 10 tht-
question u may land ~ ia results even more
curious than those We have reached al.
ready. Well ler ~ -,e
A figure Ot some importance in 'h- north
ern mythology IN GetrrOd 'ir.laudI~ Geir-
rodhr. spear glnriOus-,. the crafty Rnav"
who - hund-vis- hundred wise his
volcanic giant Iabor- us- Vulcan, a. IA
-i'thv beneath the earth. ~nere h- handles
misses Of red hot iron Que Of which ~
filings NJ Thor when he ventures into h'-
kingdom. His Two fierce ia lighters, G-,.ip
Grip and Gisp Ilelp' probably d-nu,inc
tho volcanic powers ~ nature. water and
fire cause the TINrr Winner -" ri-.. In
order 20 arrest Tha progress OF Thor When
King GuTm seeks G-trrod mysterious
realm Of jo'unh",ul l,,Ian'-ani or lar
tarO-' he has 10 pass the ocean. - .nirnav
down 10 chaos. and cross III. river which
divides earth from N" lower world W..
hnds GeIrTod ia zloOuy cavern illI uf
m-nt Inflicted upon him hN Thor la an
other story GrirrUd PLAYS the rul. ~ a
sort ot hing ~ Death and s-i,s- Wooden
when he comes INTO 81 hHll and t,la, ing INA
between two fires fortunes him for eight
nights. In SHNo Gramna',cu- twelfth
century. bv whom h- IL called G-ruthl-.
he IL Ming 81 N. I Underworld l. j. rn-V
81 see that This Are giant Gairrod whotl
Bugg- would identify with ~. Internal
monster Gervon tu h+ dark cave ~ pun.
Ishm-ut beneath Ths earth. might readily
come 10 h- regarded ~ one ith the devil
~ popular Christianity Thus Gerard ~
Il devil name IN medieval rii"r- would
naturally ha accounted for and lastly,
: he Garr"t who -. oy- pTuN"rhiaI reputa-
ION for dep'h- or evil cunning among
{ he, peasan'ry ~ our own dav would hay.
his pedigree unfuld-d As deep a. Gar.
rick Ultimately mean. a. abv-mal or IN.
IIade- Of ths ancie.t ScandinsvIans