Word Origins

 

*ROULETTE

Originating in 1744, the French word roue means "a wheel." A roulette, of course, is "a little wheel." And all those who have played the game of chance of the same name are well aware that it is a little wheel that governs the destinies of the players.

Gambling is featured in the comedy, The Honey Machine (1961) starring Steve McQueen, Jim Hutton, and Paula Prentiss, pictured above.

*Inspired by Charles Funk (1881–1957)

Word Origins

 

*TENDERFOOT

First used in the literal sense of "having tender feet" as it applied to horses, and recorded in this sense in the late seventeenth century in England as the adjective tenderfooted. The use of the word as applied to a person is conceded to be an Americanism and probably arose also in the literal sense, referring to one who, unused to traveling, became footsore. However, the earliest recorded use of the word is not in this literal meaning, but in the figurative one of "a greenhorn, a novice." This meaning has been dated to as early as 1849 and was popularized by the emigrants to California in the gold rush of that time.

Above, Joe E. Brown starred in the 1932 comedy, The Tenderfoot, with leading lady Ginger Rogers.

*Inspired by Charles Funk (1881–1957)

Word Origins

 

*WILLY NILLY

Many years ago there existed in Old English a verb that was the negative of will, "to desire, to be in an acceptable or purposeful frame of mind." This verb's negative was nill, "to be unwilling, not to will." It is known to have existed as early as the ninth century in Anglo-Saxon, and its use continued in good standing until about the first of the seventeenth century. Since then it has become obsolete or archaic except as it has been used specifically in conjunction with one of several expressions signifying futility. All of which implies that "such a thing will be, or will happen, regardless of the desires of the person affected." All these forms have been contracted into the single expression of willy-nilly, which, like the scene above, is futility. 

*Inspired by Charles Funk (1881–1957)

Word Origins

 

*UNMENTIONABLES

Toward the end of the eighteenth century it was impolite to mention the words trousers or breeches. Since it was obviously necessary at times to refer to these ubiquitous garments, various euphemistic terms were coined for the purpose, and trousers became inexpressibles, inexplicables, ineffables, or unmentionables. Later, when trousers regained their standing in polite society, it was shameful to talk about undergarments, especially women's undergarments, and these became unmentionables. By the end of the twentieth century, advertising began removing all traces of anything unmentionable.

Note: Shown above is a 1928 advertisement for the Cooper Underwear Company. Today it is better known as Jockey.

*Inspired by Charles Funk (1881–1957)

Word Origins

 *SATIRE

Not too long ago, an inept actor or group of actors might have been driven off the stage by being pelted with an assortment of fruits and vegetables thrown by the disgruntled audience. If the play were a satirical one, the object of the satire would, figuratively, also have been the recipient of the barrage, for satire is indirectly derived from the Latin lanx satura, "a full dish"—that is, a dish composed of several sorts of food, a potpourri. Dropping the dish (lanx), satura came to have the meaning of a medley, or more specifically, a short play with a great variety of subject material. Along the way, the spelling became satira, and the play developed into a critical commentary. Finally, with the same meaning, the word was adopted into English with its present spelling.

*Inspired by Charles Funk (1881–1957)

Word Origins

*SUBTLE

Light as a feather—or better, thin as gossamer. Either of these expressions describes fairly accurately the gentleness which is characteristic of true subtlety, but "gossamer" is a close translation of the Latin word from which subtle originates. Subtle was brought into English from the Old French soutil with the meaning of "thin (rarefied), fine, delicate" (the dragonfly above). But the French word came from the Latin subtilis, a contraction of subtexilis, "finely woven" (literally, "underwoven"), from sub, "under," and texare, "to weave." For many years, an alternate spelling of the English word, subtile, existed in parallel with the presently accepted spelling, this being based directly on the Latin ancestor.

*Inspired by Charles Funk (1881–1957)

Word Origins

*FIGUREHEAD

It was ornamental only, usually carved from wood into the figure or bust of a person, sometimes quite imposing, and it was placed at the very bow of a ship, directly above the water line. Whatever the country or port, it led the vessel. But it had no function. However beautiful the carving, however emblematic the design, the vessel could have been handled just as well without it. And so it is with him or her who accepts an appointment or position that carries neither duties nor responsibilities. The imposing name of such a figurative figurehead lends prestige to the enterprise or organization.

*Inspired by Charles Funk (1881–1957)

Word Origins

 

*TERRIER

Hunting dogs are used for different purposes, according to their several natures, and the peculiar property that distinguishes the clan of terriers is their ability to dig out burrowing animals from their lairs. It is this earth-moving attribute that has given the class its name. Terriers were originally bred to search for and destroy vermin. Most hunted rats, mice, and other rodents, but some larger breeds were used to hunt foxes, rabbits, and other large game. An old name was terrier dog, which is a half-translation of the French chien terrier. If fully translated, we would have had burrow dog, for the French word terrier has the meaning "a burrow, a hole in the ground." It comes from their terre, "earth," which is from the Latin terra, "earth."

*Inspired by Charles Funk (1881–1957)

Word Origins

 

*JOLLY ROGER

The earliest of pirates' flags displayed were no more likely than a plain black sheet. Later, commercial artists pirated designs of grinning skull and crossbones in white, and by the mid-nineteenth century, such was the general appearance. To the English, about the middle of the eighteenth century, the black flag of pirates became known as a Roger, eventually a Jolly Roger. No writer of the period gives a reason for such designation. Roger, perhaps then pronounced with a hard “g” among members of the underworld—the "canting crew," as they were called—had long been a term applied to a beggar or “rogue.” Jolly, of course, meant "carefree." It would follow, therefore, that the Jolly Roger would represent the flag of carefree rogues.

A jolly Roger Miller, above, talented Nashville singer, songwriter, musician, and actor, is not the same thing. 

*Inspired by Charles Funk (1881–1957)

Word Origins

 

*FLABBERGAST

Someone whose identity will never be known dreamed this up about the year 1770. At least it was reported as a new word in 1772: "Now we are flabbergasted and bored [another new word] from morning to night." Possibly the inventor coined it by joining forcibly the two words flabby and aghast, but there are no notes to furnish a definite clue. The word may be best visually described by Harold Lloyd, above.

*Inspired by Charles Funk (1881–1957)

Word Origins

 

*FANFARE

The word has nothing to do either with a fan or a fare, but when trying to bring a foreign word into English, a syllable or two might get lopped off the original word some three centuries ago, and the meaning was altered. That is, the original was the Spanish word fanfarria, meaning "bluster, presumption, haughtiness." And because persons of that sort demanded attention, their approach had to be announced by the blast of a trumpet or the like. So, in the progress of the Spanish term through French and into English, it came to mean the flourish of a trumpet or the call of a bugle or a noisy demonstration.

*Inspired by Charles Funk (1881–1957)

Word Origins

 

*THESPIAN

Apparently, in the sixth century B.C. there lived a Greek playwright whose name was Thespis, “Thadeus Thespis.” None of his plays or poems have lived to the present, and his name is remembered almost entirely because of the generally accepted view that it was he who invented the Greek tragedy. From his name, the adjective thespian was coined to describe, first, a tragic play, then, a tragic actor. By now the word is used as a name for any actor, tragic or otherwise. Not to be confused with SNL comedian, Jon Lovitz.

*Inspired by Charles Funk (1881–1957)

Word Origins

*KNICKERBOCKERS

The word seems to date back to the days of Peter Stuyvesant, when the Dutchmen on Manhattan Island all wore flaring trousers called knickerbockers. Though the name of this garment is often credited to Washington Irving, we really owe it to the British caricaturist George Cruikshank, who, in the 1850s, illustrated an English edition of the satire A History of New York, written by Irving in 1809 under the pseudonym “Diedrich Knickerbocker.” The garments of the alleged author, in these illustrations, led to the adoption of knickerbockers for any kind of knee-length pants for sports or horseback riding. In certain circles or cultures, the knickerbockers have never completely disappeared but now with a unisex, everyday casual approach. Nearly akin to wearing pajamas to the local convenience store. 

*Inspired by Charles Funk (1881–1957)

Word Origins

*SHYSTER

This Americanism was probably coined early in the nineteenth century, since its first recorded use, as cited in the Dictionary of American English, was in 1846. The Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English suggests that shyster is a variant of shicer, “a person or thing of no account, worthless,” although the latter may actually be the newer word. In any event, there is some reason to believe that both are derived from the German (possibly through Yiddish) Scheisse. Walter Matthau, above, as William H. "Whiplash Willie" Gingrich, is perhaps the quintessential portrayal of a shyster, an unscrupulous professional, especially in a law practice or politics, in the film The Fortune Cookie (1966).

*Inspired by Charles Funk (1881–1957)

Word Origins

 

*DINGBAT

Bartlett's fourth edition (1877) of his Dictionary of Americanisms, decided that this owed its origin to a bat, or piece of wood or metal, that could be dinged, or thrown. That’s probably as good as any explanation, though the source of any bit of slang is usually highly dubious. At any rate, Americans use it, as we do its derivative, dingus, as a momentary name for anything of which the proper name is out of mind or unknown. 

*Inspired by Charles Funk (1881–1957)

Word Origins

 

*SHINDIG

Although one authority cites a purported Southern United States meaning of “a sharp blow on the shins,” this may only be a transferred meaning, from the appearance of the word to an accidental kick received during a spirited dance or party. It seems much more likely that a shindig is a US alteration of the much older British word shindy, which is preceded by shinty and shinny. This last is a ball game of the seventeenth century or older that somewhat resembles field hockey. Its name may have been derived from a call used in the game, “Shin ye! Shin you!” or from the Gaelic sinteag, “a skip, jump.”

Note: The ABC music variety show, Shindig!, was broadcast from 1964 to 1966 and featured many high-profile bands and soloists. The show had competition from NBC's Hullabaloo, which began in 1965.

*Inspired by Charles Funk (1881–1957)

Word Origins

*THOROUGHFARE

New York perhaps thought it had created a new word when it opened its first section of cross-state toll road in 1954, the Throughway, which quickly became known by the non-standard, shortened spelling of Thruway. Beyond the temporary distinction of applying Throughway to a single highway, there is nothing in it that did not already exist in the six hundred-year-old word thoroughfare. Thorough is the ancient spelling of through; fare, used for “passage money,” formerly meant “passage, way.” And thoroughfare has long indicated a “through way between places.”

*Inspired by Charles Funk (1881–1957)

Word Origins

*BIGWIG

Although humorously used to designate a person of real or self-fancied importance, the start of the allusion was in fact indicated by the size of the wig a man wore, back in the times of Queen Anne of England and Louis XIV of France. Wigs had been courtly fashion for a half-century or more, but by the beginning of the eighteenth century, they attained exaggerated proportions, some covering the back and shoulders and floating down the chest. The status of a man was marked by the style of wig he wore, and the more important in state or occupation, the more imposing his wig. Eventually, the fashion passed, though the wig or peruke is still retained in British courts of law.

*Inspired by Charles Funk (1881–1957)

Word Origins

*SKEDADDLE

The earliest recorded use for the American skedaddle, “to flee precipitously,” that has been found is 1861. It is perhaps an alteration of British dialect scaddle to run off in a fright, from scaddle, adjective, wild, timid, skittish, from Middle English scathel, skadylle, harmful, fierce, wild, of Scandinavian origin. Some have claimed Swedish and Danish origins, but no one really knows for sure. Thus, various writers claim to have traced it to the Greek skedannumi, “rout”; the Welsh ysgudaw, “to scud about”; and the Irish sgedadol, “scattered.” The above image from Gun Crazy (1950) might best explain the word visually.

*Inspired by Charles Funk (1881–1957)

Word Origins

 

*MADCAP

From its earliest use in 1591, as in Shakespeare’s day, this meant simply one who was crazy, a maniac. Cap, just because it covered the head, was sometimes used for “head,” and mad, used literally, meant “crazy.” Of course, it was also used, and still is, somewhat playfully, in describing one who acted absurdly, silly, or recklessly, in much the same manner as, “He’s got bees in his bonnet,” or like the films of the Marx Brothers.

*Inspired by Charles Funk (1881–1957)