CLASS NAMES AND NICKNAMES.
An unmarried female originally received the designation of Spinster from her employment at the distaff or spindle. According to the practical notions of our Anglo-Saxon forefathers, a female was not considered fit to enter the married state until she had made for herself a complete set of body, bed, and table-linen. Hence the significance of the term Wife, derived from the Anglo-Saxon wif, by virtue of the verb wyfan, to weave. The designation Widow is an Indo-European importation, derived from the Sanskrit vid-hava, without husband. Grass Widow, denoting a woman temporarily separated from her husband, is a corruption of “Grace Widow”—in other words, a widow by grace, or courtesy. The word Chaperon is French, derived from the chapeau, or cap, worn by the duennas of Spain. Duenna, signifying a guardian, is Spanish, founded upon the Latin domina, a mistress. The title of Dowager, which distinguishes a widow left with a jointure from the wife of her late husband’s heir, comes from the French douairière, built upon the verb douaire, to dower. The name of Blue Stocking arose from the colour of the stockings worn by the members of the lady clubs in England during the days of Boswell. Gentlemen were not excluded from these assemblies, but the wearing of blue stockings was a sine quâ non of admittance. The last surviving member of the original Blue Stocking Club, founded by Mrs. Montague in 1780, died in 1840. The earliest Blue Stocking assembly came into existence at Venice, under the title of Della Calza in the year 1400. A lady’s-maid is familiarly styled an Abigail, in allusion to the handmaid who introduced herself to David (1 Samuel xxv. 23). This class-name came into particular prominence during the early part of the eighteenth century, in compliment to Abigail Hill, the maiden name of Mrs. Mashem, the waiting-woman of Queen Anne. A Parisian shop or work-girl is known as a Grisette on account of the grey cloth of which her dress is made. In olden times all inferior classes in France were expected to be clad in gris, i.e., grey. Colleen is the native Irish for girl; and Colleen Bawn for a blonde girl. How little the latter expression is understood by actresses is shown by the way in which some of them essay to impersonate (?) the heroine of Dion Boucicault’s well-known drama whilst wearing their own dark hair or a dark wig. Truly, a little knowledge is a useful thing!
As nowadays comprehended, a Milliner is one who retails hats, feathers, bonnets, ribbons, and similar appurtenances to female costume. The name is really a corruption of Milaner, alluding to the city of Milan, which at one time set the fashion to the north of Europe in all matters of taste and elegance. Haberdasher is a modern form of the Old English word Hapertaser, or a retailer of hapertas cloth, the width of which was settled by Magna Charta. Grocer is a contraction and modified spelling of Engrosser, the denomination of a tradesman who, in the Middle Ages, claimed a monopoly for the supply of provisions. A vendor of vegetables is appropriately called a Greengrocer. An innkeeper is facetiously styled a Boniface in honour of a devout and hospitable man whom St. Augustine caused to be canonized, and who subsequently became the patron saint of Germany. Shakespeare, Dante, Bacon, and Lamb never tired of referring to Boniface. Ostler is a corruption of the French hostelier, an innkeeper; hence we sometimes speak of an inn as a Hostelry. The term Carpenter, from the Latin carpentum, a waggon, originally denoted a mechanic who constructed the wooden body of a vehicle of any kind, as distinguished from the Wheelwright; but in process of time the same term came to be applied to artificers in timber generally. The provincial name for such a one is a Joiner, literally a joiner of wooden building materials. In some districts of England a shoemaker still bears the name of Cordwainer. Formerly all shoemakers were styled Cordwainers, because they were workers in Cordwain, a corruption of Cordovan, which was the name of a particular kind of leather brought from Cordova. The designation Tailor is an Anglicized form of the French Tailleur, derived from the verb tailler, to cut. [For Tallyman see [Tally], in the article “[Money].”] A Pawnbroker is familiarly called Uncle, in perpetuation of an ancient pun on the Latin word uncus, a hook. For, whereas in modern times the spout is employed as a means of communication between the pawnshop and the store-rooms overhead, the Roman pawnbrokers used a large hook; and accordingly, the expression “Gone to the uncus,” was equivalent to our slang phrase “Up the spout.” A Barber derives his class-title from the Latin barba, a beard. Rude and semi-civilized tribes were anciently called Barbarians, because they belonged to no order of society. Between the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries the hairdressers of this country combined the practice of surgery, and were accordingly styled Barber-Surgeons. The surviving “Barber’s Pole” attests this fact. The separation of the two professions took place in 1540.
A shepherd or an ideal farmer bears the poetical description of an Arcadian, in allusion to the Arcadians, who were a pastoral people. A friendly adviser is designated a Mentor, in memory of the wise and faithful counsellor of Telemachus so named. The word Usher signifies a doorkeeper, agreeably to the Old French huisher, a door. Bachelor comes from the Welsh bach, small, young. This name originally meant one inexperienced in anything. The title of Bachelor of Arts denotes a degree next below that of Master of Arts.
Beefeaters is a vulgar perversion of Buffetiers, as the Yeoman of the Guard were styled during the reign of Henry VIII., on account of their attendance upon the King’s Buffet, or side-table. The word Buffet is French, derived from the Spanish búfia, a wineskin. The civic guardians of law and order are denominated Police in accordance with the Greek polis, the city. For many years after the establishment of the Police through the measures of Sir Robert Peel (in Ireland, as the national constabulary in 1814; in London as a regular force in 1829), all Policemen were nicknamed Bobbies and Peelers, in allusion to their founder. Bow Street Runners were the original London detective force; so called because their headquarters was Bow Street, whence they were despatched to any part of the country in quest of the perpetrator of a particular crime. The predecessors of the Police were a set of decrepit old watchmen whose regular habit was to fall asleep in their boxes with their lanthorns beside them. These were derisively nicknamed Old Charlies; while their natural enemies, who loved nothing so much as to turn their boxes upon them, to molest defenceless females, mutilate males, and in many other ways to terrorize the peaceable inhabitants of the Metropolis, styled themselves first of all Scourers, and at a later date Mohocks, after the North American Indian tribe of that name. During the years 1859 and 1860 an even more grievous terror haunted the streets of London in the persons of The Garrotters, so called from the Garrotte, the instrument with which condemned malefactors are strangled in Spain. The punishment of the “cat o’ nine tails” for “Garrotting,” which came into operation July 13, 1861, gradually put an end to the practice. The latest terror of the streets which, unhappily, abounds in American cities, are the Sandbaggers, so called because they stun their victims with an ordinary sand-bag, such as is used to keep the draught from penetrating between a pair of window-sashes; after which robbery becomes an easy matter.
Pleasanter it is to turn from the birds of night to the fops and dandies by day. The word Fop comes from the German foppen, to make a fool of; and Dandy from the French dandin, a ninny. Between these two poor specimens of humanity there is no perceptible difference. The Macaronies of the last century derived their designation from the fashionable “Macaroni Clubs” to which they belonged. The modern class-title of Masher finds its origin in the Romany or gipsy word mâsha, signifying “to fascinate the eye.” En passant, the term Gipsy is a corruption of Egyptian, so called because the original family or tribe of low caste Hindoos expelled by Timour about the year 1399 eventually travelled into Europe by way of Egypt. The Gipsies were also in former times known as Bohemians, from the district in which they first attracted popular attention before they scattered themselves over Western Europe. Hence, any individual whose habits are unconventual, and to a certain extent nomadic, is styled a Bohemian. The name of The Upper Ten applied to the aristocracy, is short for “The Upper Ten Thousand,” a term originally applied by N. P. Willis, the American poet (born 1807, died 1867), to the fashionables of New York who, at the time he introduced it, numbered about ten thousand. A distinctly latter-day expression conveying much the same signification is The Four Hundred, by which we are left to conclude that the “select” society of New York must have undergone a considerable weeding-out during the last twenty years.
The temperance terms Teetotal and Teetotaler originated in the stuttering exhortation of one Richard Turner, an artizan of Preston, who, while addressing a meeting of abstainers in September, 1833, observed that “Nothing but t-t-t-total abstinence will do!” Several bodies of total abstainers from alcoholic beverages in England and America style themselves Rechabites, after the descendants of Jonadab, the son of Rechab, who lived in tents and foreswore wine. Others rejoice in the name of Good Templars, after the Templars of old. The Good Templar Movement cannot be accurately described as a crusade against drink; but the League of the Cross, established by the Roman Catholics for the total suppression of drunkenness, is, in title and in fact, one of the most powerful crusades ever distinguished in modern times.
A sailor is called a Jack Tar because he puts on tarpaulin “overalls” in “dirty weather.” Longshoreman is a corruption of alongshoreman, i.e., a wharfinger, &c. Navvy is a contraction of Navigator, which name was first given to the labourers employed in the construction of canals for inland navigation. A cabman is popularly styled a Jehu in allusion to one of the kings of Israel noted for his furious driving. A Jerry Builder is so called after one Jeremiah, a London builder who amassed a fortune by putting up houses with inferior materials in order to sell them at a large profit. A Journeyman is properly one who hires himself out to work by the day, agreeably to the first portion of the word Jour, the French for day. A debt-collector is known as a Dun, and his persistence is styled “Dunning,” in memory of Joe Dun, a famous bailiff of Lincoln, who was so successful in the discharge of his duties that it became quite customary when an individual refused to pay his debts to exclaim, “Why don’t you Dun him for it?” which was tantamount to saying, “Why don’t you send Dun to arrest him?” Whilst on the subject of law, we may here add that the expression A Man of Straw, employed to denote a person without capital or means, originated in the days when a certain class of men, chiefly ruined tradesmen, found it a profitable occupation to hire themselves out as witnesses in the law courts. The recognized mark of these persons was a wisp of straw protruding from their shoes; and as often as a lawyer stood in need of a convenient witness to prove his case, he knew by the presence of “a pair of straw shoes” in court that the owner of the said shoes would recollect and swear to any incident in consideration of a fee.