Stories That Words Tell Us

men who have helped on human progress and men who have tried to stand i

gland is like to-day, and what it was like in the days of the early Britons. But even by the time of the early Britons many things had been invented which the earlier r

those who discovered how to grow crops of corn and wheat, and so gave new food to the human race. But all this happened in times l

many inventors, and it will be interesting to see how the things they invented got their names.

a great invention of the fifteenth century, but it was simply called the printing-press, and did not take the name of its

All lovers of rare books are admirers of what they call Aldines and Elzevirs-that is, books printed at the press of Aldo

ount "Bradshaw's Railway Time Table," of which he changed the name to "Railway Companion" in the next year. He corrected it a few days after the beginning of each month by the railway time sheets, but even then the railway companies sometimes made changes later in the month. I

e from Karl Baedeker, a German publisher, who in the first half

s from that of the first publisher of such records, Luke Hansard, who was printer to the House of Commons from 1798 until he died, in 1

eir names from the Italian family of the Amati, who made violins in the sixteenth century, and Antonio Stradivari, who was their pupil. An Ama

t, as a rule, very romantic, but some of the older ones are interesting. The dahlia, for instance, was called after Dahl, a Swedish botanist, who was a pupil of the great botanist Linn?us, after whom the chief botanical society in England, the Li

ne, biplane, etc. But these are new names invented in the last twenty years. Some of the names of airships and aeroplanes are very interesting. The Taube, for instance, is so called from the German word meaning "dove," because it looks very like a bird when

ch talked of to-day, but it was a famous gun in its time, and took its name from the American inventor, Richard Jordan Gatling, who lived in the early nineteenth century, and

rapnel, of which also so much was heard in the Great War, the terrible shells which burst a certain time after leaving the gun without striking against anythi

ey are made in the way invented by John M'Adam, who lived from 1756 to 1836. The name macadam is often used now to denote the material used in making roads. Sometimes this material is of a sor

another Scotsman, Charles Macintosh, who lived at the same time as M'Adam.

preserved in scientific words. Galvanism, one branch of electricity, took its name from Luigi Galvani, an Italian professor, who made great

ggestions from itself or another mind, took its name from Friedrich A

eeded in sending a message in this way from England to France, and in the next year he sent one right across the Atlantic. Now ships frequently send a Marconigram home when they are right in the middle of the ocean; and many lives have been saved through ships

th-century nobleman, who was so fond of card games that he could not bear to leave the card tabl

hat of Abernethy biscuits, so called after the

invent it, nor was he himself guillotined, as has often been said. The guillotine is supposed to have been invented long ago in Persia, and was used in the Middle Ages both in Italy and Germany. The Frenchman whose name it b

he elegance displayed in the clothing of the famous eighteenth-century dandy, the fourth Earl of Chesterfield. So the well-known Raglan coats and sleeves took their name first from an English general, Baron Raglan, who fought in the Crimean War. Both Wellington and Blücher, the two generals who fought together and def

the Garibaldi blouse, which was so called after the red shirts which were wor

an American woman, Mrs. Amelia Jenks Bloomer, who used to wear a skirt which reac

called as a compliment to Queen Victoria. We do not hear much of this kind of carriage now; but the two-wheeled cab known as the hansom is still to be seen in the streets of London, in spite of the coming of the taxicab. This form of conveyance took its name from an architect who invented it in 1834. An earlier kind of two-wheeled carriage invented a few years before this,

to be a great judge of food, and devoted to the pleasures of the table, is called an epicure, from the old Greek philosopher Epicurus, who taught that the chief aim of life was to feel pleasure. The w

e good soldiers, and were never allowed to indulge in too much comfort or too many amusements, lest they should become lazy in mind and weak in body. A Draconian system of law is one which has no mercy,

ilt for Mausolus, king of Caria (in Greek Asia Minor), by his widow, Artemisia, in 353 B.C. The tomb itse

very brave man, and it is curious that his name should have come to be used in this unpleasant sense. The other great Greek poem, the Odyssey, has given us the name of one of its ch

e was so heartless that he played on his violin while watching the burning of Rome. Some people even said that he himself set the city on fire. Again, the name of Julius C?sar, who was the first imperial governor

ctual battles with the Carthaginian Hannibal, the great enemy of Rome, preferred to tire him out by keeping

f a great writer on the government of states. At the time of the Renaissance in Italy, Machiavelli, in his famous book cal

a person means to be determined to ignore or take no notice of him. A child may be "boycotted" by disagr

id not agree was treated in this way. The first victim of this kind of treatment was Captain Boycott of County Mayo in 1880. So useful has t

ushed up." In this way the subject is, as it were, smothered. And it was from this meaning that the name came to be used as a general word. William Burke was an Irish labourer who was executed in 1829, when he was found guilty of having

unsuitable for people to read. This is called "expurgating" the book; but people who disapprove often call it to bowdlerize. This word comes from the name of Dr. Thomas Bowdle

This word comes from the name of Guy Fawkes, the Gunpowder Plotter, through

or "stupid person." The word ninny comes from Innocent. Noddy probably comes from Nicodemus or Nicholas.

sentimental," comes from the name of St. Mary Magdalen, a saint whose name immediately suggests to us sorrow and weeping. The word maudlin suggests the

r name for St. Etheldreda, who founded Ely Cathedral. In the Middle Ages St. Audrey's Fair used to be held

l patrons of people suffering from such diseases. In the same way the disease which used to be called the King's Evil was so named because people formerly believed that persons suffering from it

le we may read many a story of love and sorrow