Part 25
=Spring Heel Jack.= The sobriquet of the eccentric Marquis of Waterford, who about a century ago cultivated the habit of frightening people after nightfall by springing upon them out of obscure corners and alleys. It was said that terror of the streets had steel springs fitted to his heels for the purpose.
=Square Meal.= An Americanism for a full meal, which can only be enjoyed at the table, in contradistinction to a snack at a luncheon bar.
=Squatter.= Literally one who squats down on land to which he has no legal title.
=Squaw.= Algonquin for an Indian woman.
=Stafford.= The county town of the shire derived this name from the ancient mode of fording the River Sow, upon which it stands, by means of staves or stilts.
=Stage-coach.= So called from the stages or degrees of the whole journey, at each of which the coach pulled up to change horses and refresh the travellers.
=Staines.= From the Saxon _stane_, stone, the boundary mark set up beside the Thames, bearing date 1280, and the inscription: “God preserve the City of London.” This defined the western limits of jurisdiction claimed by the Thames Conservancy or Water Board.
=Stand Sam.= An Americanism for to “stand treat,” which originated among the soldiers during the Civil War. When billeted upon the people they demanded liquor by wholesale, saying that “Uncle Sam” would pay for it, and it was everyone’s duty to stand Sam. See “Uncle Sam.”
=Stanhope.= An open carriage named in compliment to the Earl of Stanhope, author and politician.
=Stanhope Gate.= This entrance to Hyde Park, in Park Lane, received its name from Philip Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield, residing at Chesterfield House close by.
=Staples Inn.= Properly “Staplers’ Inn,” the ancient Hall of the Woolstaplers, styled Merchants of the Staple.
=Star and Garter.= An inn or tavern sign commemorative of the institution of the Order of the Garter by Edward III.
=Star Chamber.= This historic court received its name not from the stars decorating the ceiling, as generally stated, but because it was the ancient depository of the _Starra_, or Jewish records, at the order of Richard I.
=Start your Boots.= An Americanism for “Be off!” “Walk away.”
=Starvation Dundas.= The sobriquet of Henry Dundas, created Lord Melville, owing to his constant repetition of the word “Starvation” in the course of a debate on American affairs in 1775.
=State of Spain.= New Jersey. After the battle of Waterloo Joseph Bonaparte, the brother of Napoleon I., fled to New Jersey, and, settling on an estate at Borderstown, gathered so many Frenchmen and Spaniards around him that the Philadelphians regarded the people of this state generally as Spaniards and foreigners. At this time Joseph Bonaparte was nominally King of Naples and of Spain.
=Stationer.= This term was not derived from “Stationery,” since the latter grew out of the former. Ancient so-called booksellers were of two kinds: the itinerants, and the stallholders in open market. Both dealt in such books as were known at the time--hornbooks and the like--but principally in writing materials, and as the stationery booksellers had a more varied assortment than the pedlars, pen, ink, and paper eventually received the name of “stationery,” and their vendors that of “stationers.”
=Steelyard.= The name given to a weighing machine on which a single weight is moved along a graduated beam. This has no reference to a “yard” measure, but to the ancient Steelyard near London Bridge, where the German merchants of old landed, weighed, and sold their fine steel.
=Steeplechase.= This term originated in a race by a party of unsuccessful fox hunters, who agreed to run a race to the village church, the steeple of which was visible a couple of miles away, the one who touched its stones with his whip first being declared the winner.
=Stepney.= A corruption of “Stebenhithe,” after the owner of a hithe or wharf on this portion of the Thames bank in Anglo-Saxon days.
=Sterling Money.= That originally coined in this country by the “Esterlings,” the name given to the people of the Hanse Towns in the eastern portion of Germany, at the invitation of King John. The purity of the Esterling coinage was above reproach, whereas that of England anterior to the mission of the Hansa merchants to reform it had long become debased.
=Sterling Silver.= Genuine silver in its natural purity as opposed to “German Silver,” an alloy of copper, nickel, and zinc first made in Germany. See “Sterling Money.”
=Stick a Pin there.= An Americanism for “make a note of it as a reminder.” Dressmakers always stick a pin to mark the place where material is to be stitched or taken in.
=Stiletto.= Expresses the diminutive of the Italian _stilo_, a dagger.
=Stingo.= See “Yorkshire Stingo.”
=Stock.= This flower received its name from the circumstance that it was largely sold in the Stocks Market (so called on account of a pair of stocks that stood there), on part of the site of which the Mansion House was erected in 1737.
=Stock Exchange.= For the application of the term “Stock” to money, see “Government Stock.”
=Stockwell.= From an ancient well discovered in a _stoke_ or wood.
=Stoke Newington.= Expresses the new town in the meadow adjacent to a _stoke_, or wood, in reference to “Enfield Chase.” See “New Southgate.”
=Stonecutter Street.= From the lapidaries who congregated here in ancient days.
=Stone Jug.= See “In the Jug.”
=Stones End.= See “Stony Street.”
=Stonewall Jackson.= This sobriquet of General Jackson originated with General Lee during the American Civil War. Rallying his troops after the battle of Bull Run, he exclaimed, pointing in the direction with his sword: “There is Jackson, standing like a stone wall!”
=Stony Street.= So called from the nature of this portion of the great Roman highway to Dover, in continuation of “Watling Street,” north of the Thames.
=Store.= An Americanism for a shop or warehouse.
=Storey’s Gate.= Marks the site of the residence of Edward Storey, keeper of the royal aviary of Charles II. in that portion of St James’s Park known as Birdcage Walk.
=Stormy Petrel.= A sea-bird, the appearance of which is regarded as a portent of storms. Its Italian name, _Petrillo_, expresses the diminutive of Peter, in allusion to St Peter, who walked on the sea, because, instead of flying in the air, this bird habitually skims on the surface of the water.
=Storthing.= From the Norse _stor_, great, and _thing_, court, the Norwegian and Swedish House of Assembly.
=Stout.= This black alcoholic beverage is so called because it contains more body and nourishment than ale or beer.
=Stradivarius.= A violin made by the celebrated Antonio Stradivari of Cremona; generally abbreviated into “Strad.”
=Straight Drink.= An Americanism for a drink of pure, undiluted spirit.
=Strand.= The name given to the north bank of the Thames (from the Norse _strönd_, shore, border) in days when, with the exception of a few princely houses dotted here and there, the whole of this portion of London was open country.
=Straphanger.= A term which has come into vogue since the introduction of electrified railways, the trains being so crowded in the morning and evening that straps are provided for standing passengers to cling to _en route_.
=Strasburg.= This name was first heard of in the fifth century, expressing the German for a fortified town on the _strass_ or _strata_, the great Roman highway into Gaul.
=Stratford.= From the Latin _strata_, road, way; that portion of the old Roman highway where the River Lea had to be forded. In Chaucer’s time this little town, situated a long distance out of London, was described as “Stratford-a-te-Bow,” in allusion to “Bow Bridge.”
=Stratford Place.= After Edward Stratford, the second Lord Aldborough, who leased the ground for building purposes from the Corporation of the City of London in 1775.
=Stratton Street.= After Lord Berkeley of Stratton, the owner of the district now comprised in Mayfair, _temp._ Charles I.
=Strenuous Life.= The antithesis of the “Simple Life.”
=Stuarts.= This dynasty received its name from the fact that Walter, the Lord High Steward of Scotland, married the daughter of King Robert the Bruce. Since this Walter was the sixth of his line honoured with such a position, he was said to belong to the Stewards, which, eventually corrupted into “Stuarts,” resulted in a family name.
=Stumped.= To have no money left. See “Stump up.”
=Stump Orator.= One who harangues a crowd from the stump of a tree.
=Stump Speech.= A term popularised in this country through the minstrel entertainment, being an extempore speech delivered to the Negroes of the southern states from the stump of a tree.
=Stump the Country.= Colloquial for an electioneering campaign, derived from the practice of political agents in the United States addressing the people at large from a convenient tree stump.
=Stump up.= Originally an Americanism for “put down your money.” After delivering a speech for a benevolent object the “Stump Orator” stepped down, and the people around laid their contributions on the tree stump.
=Suabia.= See “Servia.”
=Sub.= Short for “subsidise,” or to draw something in advance of one’s salary.
=Sub Rosa.= “Under the Rose”--_i.e._ strictly between ourselves. It was the custom of the Teutons when they assembled at a feast, to suspend a rose from the ceiling as a reminder that whatever might be said concerning their absent friends should not be repeated.
=Subtle Doctor.= Duns Scotus, the schoolman and prince of metaphysicians, whose subtlety of reasoning has never been equalled in ancient or modern times.
=Sucked in.= An expression derived from “Buying a pig in a poke.” See “Let the Cat out of the Bag.”
=Sucker State.= Illinois, so called from the Galena lead miners, who disappeared during the winter and returned to Galena in the spring, when the sucker-fish in the Fevre River abounded. The people of this state are accordingly styled “Suckers.”
=Suffolk.= A corruption of “South Folk,” the inhabitants of the southern division of East Anglia.
=Suffolk Lane.= From the ancient town house of the Dukes of Suffolk.
=Suffolk Street.= From Suffolk House, the residence of the Earls of Suffolk in former days.
=Suffragette.= If this latter-day term possesses any etymological significance whatever, it expresses the diminutive of one who claims the suffrage or the right, from the Latin _suffragio_, to vote. A suffragette is, in brief, a woman who ought to know better. Eager to take upon herself the responsibilities of citizenship on a common footing with the male orders of creation, she cannot but shirk those which rightly belong to her own state.
=Sulky.= A two-wheeled carriage for a single person, so called from the popular idea at the time of its introduction that anyone who wished to ride alone could not be otherwise than morose and sulky in his disposition.
=Sumatra.= From the Arabic _Simatra_, “happy land.”
=Sumner Street.= After Dr Sumner, Bishop of Winchester, one of the last occupants of Winchester House in this neighbourhood.
=Sun.= An inn sign after the heraldic device of Richard II.
=Sunday.= The first day of the week, dedicated in the Scandinavian mythology to sun-worship.
=Sun-down.= An Americanism for “sunset.”
=Sunflower.= So called from the form and colour of its flower. See “Heliotrope.”
=Sunnites.= The orthodox Mohammedans, who accept the _Sunna_, or collective traditions, equally with the Koran.
=Sunset Land.= Arizona, on account of its glorious sunsets.
=Supers.= In theatrical parlance short for “supernumeraries,” those who form the stage crowds, but have no individual lines to speak.
=Supper.= A term which has survived the changes of time. We still invite a friend to “sup” with us, but the repast is more or less a substantial one. Anciently the last meal of the day consisted only of soup.
=Surrey.= From the Anglo-Saxon _Suth-rey_, south of the river--_i.e._ the Thames.
=Surrey Street.= After the town mansion and grounds of the Howards, Dukes of Norfolk and Earls of Arundel and Surrey.
=Suspenders.= An Americanism for trouser braces.
=Sussex.= The territory of the _Suth-seaxe_, or South Saxons, under the Heptarchy.
=Sutton Place.= After Thomas Sutton, founder of the Charter House, whom the good folk of Hackney were proud to number among their residents on this spot.
=Swallow Street.= It is difficult to imagine that this once merited the name of “Slough Street,” on account of its miry condition; but such is the fact.
=Swan Alley.= From the ancient town house of the Beauchamps, whose crest was a swan.
=Swan-Upping.= The name given from time immemorial by the Vintners’ Company to their annual up-Thames visitation of the swans belonging to them for the purpose of marking their bills with two nicks, by way of distinguishing them from the royal swans, that have five nicks.
=Swan with two Necks.= An ancient London inn sign, corrupted from “The Swan with two Nicks,” in compliment to the Vintners’ Company. See “Swan-Upping.”
=Sweating.= A word used in the original Biblical sense, and applied to the unhealthy conditions which obtain among the denizens of the East End of London, specifically the Jewish tailors, numbers of whom work together in the fœtid atmosphere of a single small room.
=Swedenborgians.= The followers of Emmanuel Swedenborg, the Swedish mystic. Prior to 1719, when his family became ennobled, his real name was Svedborg.
=Swedish Nightingale.= Jenny Lind Goldschmidt, the rage of musical London, who died in 1887.
=Sweepstake.= Money staked on a race by different persons, the fortunate winner among whom takes the whole amount, literally at one sweep.
=Sweetbriar.= Expresses a “fragrant thorn.”
=Sweetheart.= A corruption of “Sweetard,” the suffix _ard_ expressing the intensitive in many class names, such as “Dotard,” “Bastard,” etc.
=Swell.= Slang for one of the upper classes, no doubt suggested by the phrase: “The bloated aristocracy.” Also applied to an overdressed person puffed out with the idea of his own importance.
=Switches.= An Americanism for ladies’ hair curlers, fringes, and other hirsute appendages.
=Switzerland.= The English form of the Austrian Schwyz and German Schweitz, originally the name of the three forest cantons whose people threw off the Austrian yoke and asserted the independence of the whole country.
=Switzerland of America.= West Virginia, so called on account of its mountains.
=Sworn Brothers.= An ancient legal phrase signifying that two friends had entered into a solemn compact to lend mutual aid and protection and share each other’s fortunes. This custom was of Scandinavian origin.
=Sydenham.= Expresses the home or family settlement in the south.
=Symmetrion Girl.= See “Sandow Girl.”
T
=Tabard.= The famous inn sign in Southwark immortalised by Chaucer’s “Canterbury Pilgrims,” from the ancient tunic with wide flap sleeves still worn by the heralds.
=Tableaux Vivants.= French for “living pictures,” specifically the realisation of a celebrated painting or a scene from history by a group of persons.
=Table d’Hôte.= Most people are under the impression that this term means a dinner as served at a hotel. This is erroneous. Its literal signification is “the table of the host.” Until quite modern days a traveller who desired to be served with a meal at an inn had to take it with the landlord at his own table.
=Taboo.= Strictly speaking, there is no such word as “tabooed,” yet we generally find it employed in the place of “taboo.” The latter is the European rendering of the Polynesian _tapu_, signifying a thing reserved or consecrated to the use of one person. For a South Sea Islander to exclaim _tapu_ when he sees anything that he fancies, is tantamount to saying “I claim this thing; anyone else who touches it shall die.” Amongst ourselves a subject which is _taboo_ must not be discussed.
=Taffy.= The generic name for a Welshman, corrupted from Davy, which is short for David, the most common Christian name of the country, in honour of St David.
=Tagus.= The Phœnician for “river of fish.”
=Tailor.= From the French _tailleur_, based upon the verb _tailler_, to cut.
=Take a Back Seat.= An Americanism for “You have outdone me; I’ll retire from the front row.”
=Take a Rise out of Him.= To take an undue advantage, to benefit by a mean action. This originated in fly-fishing; when a fish sees the fly held out of the water it rises to seize the coveted prey, and is caught itself.
=Takes the Cake.= An expression derived from the Cake Walking competitions of the Negroes in the southern states of the American Union. A cake is placed on the ground, and the competitors, male and female, walk around it in couples. Those who disport themselves most gracefully take the cake as their prize.
=Take your Hook.= See “Sling your Hook.”
=Talbot.= An inn sign in compliment to the Earls of Shrewsbury.
=Talbotype.= A process of photography, by means of the Camera Obscura, invented by Fox Talbot in 1839.
=Talking Shop.= The nickname for the House of Commons. See “Parliament.”
=Tally Ho!= From the Norman hunting cry _Taillis au_ (“To the coppice”), raised when the stag made for its native place of safety.
=Tallyman.= One who supplies goods on the weekly instalment system, so called originally from the acknowledgments for payments that he gave to his customers having to “tally” or agree with the entries in his book. Why such a one should be ashamed of his old-time designation, and now style himself a “Credit Draper,” can only be explained on the ground that the tallyman is in bad odour with the husbands of the guileless women whom he systematically overcharges. See “Government Stock.”
=Tammany Ring.= The name given to certain officials of the Democratic party in New York who in 1871 were punished for having during a long series of years plundered the people wholesale. Tammany Hall was the place where they held their meetings. This was originally the headquarters of a benevolent society, but it degenerated into a political club. By way of accounting for the designation, it may be added that Tammany or Tammenund was the name of a famous Indian chief of the Delaware tribe, greatly beloved by his people.
=Taming the Alps.= A phrase which has lately come into vogue through the popular solicitude to prevent intrepid amateurs from climbing the Alps without the assistance of local guides.
=Tantalise.= A word based upon the fable of Tantalus, a son of Jupiter, who, because he betrayed his father’s secrets, was made to stand up to his chin in water, with branches of luscious fruit over his head, but when he wished to drink or to eat the water and the fruit receded from him.
=Tapestry.= From the French _tapisserie_, based on the Latin _tapes_, a carpet.
=Tapster.= The old name for a tavern-keeper or his assistant, applied in days when taps were first fitted to barrels for drawing off liquor.
=Tarantella.= A dance invented for the purpose of inducing perspiration as a supposed remedy for the poisonous bite of the Tarantula spider, which received its name from the city of Taranto in Italy, where its baneful effects were first noted.
=Tarlatan.= From Tarare in France, the chief seat of the manufacture.
=Tar Heels.= The nickname of the people of South Carolina, relative to the tar industry in its lowland forests.
=Tarragona.= Called by the Romans _Tarraco_, after the name given to the city by the Phœnicians, _Tarchon_, “citadel.”
=Tarred with the same Brush.= This expression originated in the custom of marking the sheep of different folds formerly with a brush dipped in tar, but nowadays more generally in red ochre.
=Tart.= A punning abbreviation of “Sweetheart.”
=Tasmania.= After Abel Jansen Tasman, the Dutch navigator, who discovered it in 1642.
=Tattersall’s.= After Richard Tattersall, who established his famous horse repository near Hyde Park Corner in 1786; on 10th April 1865 it was removed to its present locale at Knightsbridge.
=Taunton.= The town on the River Tone.
=Tavern.= From the Latin _taberna_, a hut of boards.
=Tavistock.= The stockaded place on the Tavy.
=Tavistock Street.= After the ancestor of the present great ground landlord, Thomas Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton, Marquis of Tavistock, and Duke of Bedford, the father of the celebrated Rachel who became the wife of Lord William Russell, beheaded in 1683. The square and place similarly designated are included in the ducal estate.
=Tawdry.= A word derived from the cheap, showy lace anciently sold at the annual fair of St Audrey in the Isle of Ely. This was called St Audrey’s lace, afterwards corrupted into Tawdrey. The name of St Audrey itself was a corruption of St Ethelreda.
=Tay.= From the Celtic _tain_, river.
=Tearless Victory.= Plutarch in his “Lives” gave this name to the great victory won by Archimandus, King of Sparta, over the Arcadians and Argives, B.C. 367, without the loss of a single Spartan soldier.
=Teetotaler.= This designation of a total abstainer arose out of the stammering address at Preston in September 1833 of one Richard Turner, who concluded by saying: “Nothing but t-t-t-t-total abstinence will do--that or nowt!”
=Teetotum.= A coined term for a Working Man’s Total Abstinence Club, suggested by the word “Teetotaler.”
=Teignmouth.= Situated at the mouth, or in the estuary of, the Teign, which name is a variant of the Celtic _tain_, river.
=Tell that to the Marines.= In the old days, before the bluejackets proved themselves as good fighting men on land as at sea, the Marines were an indispensable adjunct to the Navy, but as time hung heavily upon their hands they were always ready to listen to a story. Finding that they were easily gullible, the sailors loved to entertain them with the most extraordinary yarns, and, while on shore, if they heard a wonderful story themselves they made up their minds to “tell that to the Marines.”
=Temple.= The seat of the “Knights Templars” in this country down to the time of the dissolution of their Order by Edward II. in 1313.
=Temple Bar.= The ancient gateway, at the western extremity of Fleet Street, defining the “liberty” of the city of London on that side, and originally set up as the ordinary entrance to the London house of the Knights Templars. Taken down in 1878, the “Bar” now adorns the park of Sir Henry Meux at Theobalds, Cheshunt, Herts.
=Tenement House.= An Americanism for a dwelling-house let off to different families.
=Tennessee.= Indian for “river of the great bend.”
=Tent Wine.= A corruption of _vinto tinto_, the Spanish for a white wine coloured.
=Terpsichorean Art.= After Terpsichore, one of the Nine Muses, who presided over dancing.
=Terra-cotta.= Italian for “baked earth”--_i.e._ clay.
=Texas.= Indian for “the place of protection,” where a colony of French refugees were kindly received in 1817.
=Thaler.= Originally called a Joachims-Thaler, because this German coin was struck out of silver found in the thal, or dale, of St Joachim in France about 1518. From this “Thaler” the term “Dollar” has been derived.
=Thames.= To assert that this name has been derived from the Latin (?) _Thamesis_, “the broad Isis,” or that it expresses the conjunction of the Thame and the Isis, is ridiculous. The word is wholly Celtic, from _tam_, smooth, and _esis_, one of the many variants of the original _uisg_, water. It is quite true that that portion of our noble river which flows past Oxford is called the Isis, but the name is scholastic only, and cannot be found in any ancient charter or historical document. _Thames_ simply means smooth water, or, if we care to admit it, “the smooth Isis.”
=Thames Street.= Runs parallel to the river on the north bank.
=Thanet Place.= This _cul de sac_ at the eastern end of the Strand received its name from the Earl of Thanet, the owner of the land prior to 1780.
=Thavie’s Inn.= A range of modern buildings on the site of an ancient appendage to Lincoln’s Inn, so called by the Benchers in honour of John Thavie, an armourer, who when he died in 1348 left a considerable amount of property to the parish church of St Andrew.