Phrases And Names Their Origins And Meanings

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Excerpt from Origins and Meanings of Popular Phrases Names This book is put forward in the belief that a demand exists for a concise epitome of the origin and meaning of words and phrases which are in every-day use but which are often not appreciated at their full significance. Its size is sufficient to show that it is neither intended to be an exhaustive philological treatise nor an academic encyclopaedia, but it aims at throwing an interesting light on many words by recalling their derivation, and it endeavours to give useful information in a pleasant and chatty form. One of the chief difficulties in its compilation has been the selection of its contents. Some criterion had to be established, as it was obviously impossible, while confining the book to convenient limits, to include everything that would be of interest to all, and yet that which might appear most desirable to some, might be esteemed valueless by others. Eventually, as the result of much cogitation, the compiler decided to cut the Gordian knot by boldly wielding the sword of his own fancy - only that which seemed of interest to him should be included. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Comprising well over 4,000 entries, this interesting glossary, first published in 1906, details the origins and meanings of many terms, words, sayings, and place names. Most will be familiar to the modern reader but their origin may not. A few example entries are given below: Mad as a Hatter. A corruption of "Mad as an atter." Atter expressed the Saxon for a viper or adder. The word "Mad" was anciently used in the sense of venomous; hence this expression really meant "venomous as a viper." Sardinia. Called Sandaliotis by the Greeks on account of its resemblance to a human footprint; this name was changed by the Romans to Sardo. At a later period the island was called Sardonion, from a poisonous herb, transplanted from Sardis in Asia Minor, which brought about a twitching of the muscles of the face resembling laughter; hence the phrase to "Smile sardonically." Set the Thames on fire. A "temse" was the old name for a sieve, agreeably to the French tamis and the Italian tamiso, which terms express the same implement. A sifter would require to work very hard indeed to ignite his sieve. Accordingly a bystander often said to him touching his apparent laziness: "You'll never set the temse on fire!" Its punning application to the River Thames is perhaps pardonable. Wallop. In the year 1514 the French fleet ravaged the coast of Sussex, and burned Brighthelmstone, now Brighton, whereupon Sir John Wallop, one of the best naval commanders of his time, was sent by Henry VIII. to make reprisals. In this he succeeded only too well; he burned twenty-one French coasting villages, demolished several harbours, and thrashed the enemy to his heart's content. His men, however, proud of the achievement, declared that they had Walloped the French; and thus it was that a new synonym for "thrash" came to be incorporated into the English language. This work is not a cheap scan or the result of copying and pasting; It contains no missing pages, areas of blurred or missing text, photocopier's fingers, coffee stains, or other scanning artifacts. It has all of the original text, retyped and reformatted in an easy to read format. For the modern reader, numerous publisher's notes are inserted to explain obscure and outdated terms.