Many stories have been composed après coup to explain the American hoodlum and the Australian larrikin, which are both older than our hooligan (see p. [12]). The origin of hoodlum is quite obscure. The story believed in Australia with regard to larrikin is that an Irish policeman, giving evidence of the arrest of a rough, explained that the accused was a-larrikin' (larking) in the street, and this was misunderstood by a reporter. But there appears to be not the slightest foundation for this story. The word is perhaps a diminutive of the common Irish name Larry, also immortalised in the stirring ballad—
"The night before Larry was stretched."
As I write, there is a correspondence going on in the Nottingham papers as to the origin of the nickname Bendigo, borne by a local bruiser and evangelist. According to one account, he was one of triplets, whom a jocular friend of the family nicknamed Shadrach, Meschach, and Abed-Nego, the last of which was the future celebrity. It is at any rate certain that his first challenge (Bell's Life, 1835) was signed "Abed-Nego of Nottingham." The rival theory is that, when he was playing in the streets and his father appeared in the offing, his companions used to warn him by crying "Bendy go!" This theory disregards the assertion of the "oldest inhabitant" that the great man was never called Bendy, and the fact, familiar to any observer of the local dialect, that, even if he had been so called, the form of warning would have been, "Look aht, Bendy, yer daddy's a-coomen."
In the Supplement to Littré there is an article on domino, in which he points out that investigation must start from the phrase faire domino (see p. [102]). He also quotes an absurd anecdote from a local magazine, which professes to come from a "vieille chronique." Littré naturally wants to know what chronicle. In Scheler's Dictionnaire étymologique (Brussels, 1888), it is "proved," by means of the same story elaborated, "que c'est là la véritable origine du mot dont nous parlons."
ANECDOTIC ETYMOLOGY
In Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, s.v. sirloin, we read that "it is generally said that James I. or Charles II. knighted the loin of beef, but Henry VIII. had done so already." This sounds like a determination to get at the root of things, but does not go far enough. The word is found in the 15th century, and Fr. surlonge, from which it comes, in the 14th. It is compounded of sur, over, and longe, a derivative of Lat. lumbus, loin. The belief in the knightly origin of the sirloin was so strong that we find it playfully called the baronet (Tom Jones, iv. 10). Hence, no doubt, the name baron of beef for the double sirloin. Tram is persistently connected with a Mr Outram, who flourished about 1800. This is another case of intelligent anticipation, for the word is found in 1555. It means log or beam, and was probably first applied to a log-road laid across bad ground, what is called in America a "corduroy" road. On the other hand, the obvious and simple derivation of beef-eater, i.e. a man who is in the enviable position of being sure of his daily allowance,[153] has been obscured by the invention of an imaginary Fr. *beaufetier, waiter at the side-board. Professor Skeat attributes the success of this myth to its inclusion in Mrs Markham's History of England. But the most indestructible of all these superstitions is connected with the word cabal. It comes from a Hebrew word meaning hidden mystery, and is found in the chief Romance languages. The word is of frequent occurrence in English long before the date of Charles II.'s acrostic ministry,[154] though its modern meaning has naturally been affected by this historic connection.
Even anecdotic etymologies accepted by the most cautious modern authorities do not always inspire complete confidence. Martinet is supposed to come from the name of a well-known French officer who re-organised the French infantry about 1670. But we find it used by Wycherley in 1676, about forty years before Martinet's death. Moreover this application of the name is unknown in French, which has, however, a word martinet meaning a kind of cat-o'-nine-tails. In English martinet means the leech-line of a sail, hence, possibly, rope's end, and Wycherley applies the term to a brutal sea-captain. The most renowned of carriers is probably Hobson, of Cambridge. He was sung by Milton, and bequeathed to the town Hobson's conduit which cleanses the Cambridge gutters. To him is also ascribed the phrase Hobson's choice, from his custom of refusing to let out his horses except in strict rotation. But we find a merchant venturer, living in Japan, using "Hodgson's choice" fourteen years before the carrier left this world and became a legendary figure—
"We are put to Hodgson's choise to take such previlegese as they will geve us, or else goe without."
(Correspondence of Richard Cocks, Oct. 1617.)
BACK-FORMATIONS