Transylvania. From the Latin trans, beyond, and sylva, wood; this name was given by the Hungarians to the country beyond their wooded frontier.
Trappists. A strict Order of Cistercian Monks, so called from their original home at La Trappe in Normandy, established during the twelfth century.
Treacle Bible. A rare version of the Scriptures, so called on account of the rendering of the passage (Jeremiah viii. 22): “Is there no balm in Gilead?” as “There is no more traicle at Gilead.”
Trent. Celtic for “winding river.”
Tried in the Balance and Found Wanting. An expression founded on the belief of the ancient Egyptians that the souls of men were weighed after death.
Trilbies. Colloquial for feet, because Trilby in the novel and the play named after the heroine appears in bare feet.
Trilby. A soft felt hat of the kind popularised by the heroine of the famous Haymarket Theatre play, Trilby, founded upon the late George du Maurier’s equally famous novel of the same title.
Trinidad Island. The name given to it by Columbus as an emblem of the Trinity, relative to its three mountain peaks which, when seen from afar, he at first imagined rose from three different islands.
Trinitarians. Those who accept the doctrine of the Holy Trinity as opposed to the Unitarians; also the original designation of the “Crutched Friars,” or Friars of the Holy Trinity.
Trinity House. This had its origin in an ancient guild incorporated in 1529 under the title of “The Master-Wardens and Assistants of the Guild, or Fraternity, or Brotherhood, of the Most Glorious and Undivisible Trinity, and St Clement, in the parish of Deptford, Stroud, in the County of Kent.” The present building dates from 1795.