From Pillar to Post. This had reference in olden times to the hooting crowds who followed a public offender from the pillory to the whipping-post. The “post,” however, was more usually a “cart’s tail.”
Fuchsia. After Leonard Fuchs, the distinguished German botanist.
Fudge. A word derived from the sound produced by the nasal expression of contempt, futsch! among the Germans and Dutch.
Fulham. The Fullenhame of Anglo-Saxon days, expressing the home or habitation of water-fowl.
Funeral. Specifically a torchlight procession, from the Latin funis, a torch. In ancient times burials always took place by night.
Furnival Street. A name left to remind us of Furnival’s Inn, on the opposite side of Holborn, and where Charles Dickens wrote his “Pickwick Papers.” Anciently this was the “Inn” or town mansion of the Lords Furnival, a title which became extinct in the reign of Richard II.
Fusiliers. Because originally armed with a light musket styled a fusil.
Fye Foot Lane. A corruption of Five Foot Lane, the width of this narrow thoroughfare when it led down to the Thames side.
G
Gad-about. The word “Gad” is Gaelic, signifying “to rove.”