Guy’s Hospital. The generous benefaction of Thomas Guy, a wealthy Lombard Street bookseller, in 1722. His large fortune was chiefly due to the buying up, at a large discount, of seamen’s prize-money tickets, and investing the proceeds in South-Sea Stock.
Gyp. The college servitor at Cambridge, so called because he subsists on the perquisites of those whom he waits upon. Gyp expresses the Greek for a vulture.
H
Haberdasher. Anciently one who sold Hapertas cloth, a mixture of silk and wool. In modern times a haberdasher is a vendor of smallwares, such as handkerchiefs, neckties, tapes, etc. The origin of the word Hapertas has been traced to the Anglo-Saxon Habihr das: “Will you buy this?” a trader’s exclamation similar to that of the London ’prentice of a later period: “What do you lack?” However this may be, the German tauschen stands for sale, exchange, barter.
Hack Author. See “[Hackney Coach].”
Hackney. The whole of this district originally belonged to a Danish Chief named Hacon. The suffix ey expresses an island--i.e. land intersected by rivulets (in this case of the Lea)--or low, marshy ground. The suggestion that coaches were first let out for hire in this neighbourhood is not correct. See “[Hackney Coach].”
Hackney Coach. One let out for hire. In France a coche-a-haquenée expresses a coach drawn by a hired horse. Originally the word haquenée meant any kind of horse but a thoroughbred. The Dutch hakkenei means hack horse, an ambling nag. From the French haquenée we have derived the term hack author, or literary hack, one whose services are hired for poor pay by a bookseller.
Haggerston. A Saxon village called “Hergotstein,” “Our God’s Stone.” The stone is believed to have had relation to a miraculous well, beside which an altar was set up.
Hague. Properly, according to the Dutch name of the place, Gravenhaag, the ancient seat of the Gravs or Counts of Holland.
Hail. An exclamation of greeting derived from the Anglo-Saxon hæl, “health.” The Scandinavian heill expressed the same sentiment. See “[Wassail].”