Stories That Words Tell Us

old and new, can tell us. But the names of places themselves often give

m Damascus; as does holland, the light brownish cotton stuff used so much for children's frocks and overalls, from Holland, and the rough woollen material known as frieze from Friesland. Cambric, the fine white material often used for handkerchiefs, takes its name from Cambrai in France, the place where it was first

dark colour. The word fustian has also come to be used figuratively to describe a showy manner of speaking or

s its name from people pronouncing twill badly; but the form tweed spread more qui

nts. But the word tartan does not seem to be a Scottish word, and probably comes from Tartar, which was formerly used to describe almost any Eastern people. Perhaps the fact that Eastern peoples love bright colours caused this name

ing of tapestry, often hung sufficiently far from the wall to leave room for a person to pass. T

French word tabis, and described a material with marks which the markings on a "tabby" cat resemble. The Frenc

children are known as jerseys-a word which is taken from the name of one of the Channel Islands, Jersey. Sometimes, but not so commonly, they are called guernseys, from the

name as that of the great Eastern country which is famous for its beautiful pottery. Another kind of ornamented earthenware is the Italian majolica, and this proba

eral countries of Europe, but it keeps its old name. Another old kind of leather, but whose name is no longer used, was cordwain, a Spanish leather for the making o

hey come. Champagne is the wine of Champagne, Burgundy of Burgundy, Sauterne of Sauterne, Chablis of Chablis-all French wines. Port

these names-such as Capri bianco Vesuvio, etc. Malmsey, the old wine in which the Duke of Clarence was supposed to have been drowned when

This oil was at one time very much used as a dressing for the hair, and from this we get the name antimacassar for the coverings which used to be (and are sometimes still) thrown over the ba

us another common expression. We describe an indifferent person who has no enthusiasm for anything as "a Laodicean," from the reproa

cient name of the South Italian town which we now call Brindisi. The Latin name for this metal wa

er coin which was formerly called a Joachimstaler, from the silver-mine of Joachimstal, or "Joachim's Dale," in Bohemia. The ducat, a gold coin which was used in nearly all the countr

liner. This came from the fact that many fancy materials

r "Tartar," to describe almost any Eastern people, and the name came, perhaps, from the fact that in these dances people dressed up, and so looked strange and foreign. The name of a very well-known dance, the polka, really means "Polish woman." Mazurka, the

"Canterbury gallop," an expression which was used to describe the slow jogging pace at which many pilgrims in

was called in Latin prunum damascenum, or "plum of Damascus." The name peach comes to us from the Late Latin word pes

e, and this came from an Italian word, pistolese, which meant "made at Pistoja." We do not think of spaniels as forei

is word to describe a kind of leather, a kind of ginger beer, and a variety of the fir tree,

long been used to mean very violent and abusive language supp

" This word comes from the name of the American town of Buncombe, in North Carolina, and came into use through the member for Buncombe in the House of Representatives insisting on making a speech just when every one else wanted to proceed with the voting on a bi

s a "perfect bedlam." The word bedlam comes from Bethlehem. In the Middle Ages there was a hospital in London kept by monks of the Order of St. Mary of Bethlehem. In time this house came to be known as "

ey; but we saw in an earlier chapter how vague the people of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries were about America. When Columbus reached the shore of that continent, people thought he had sailed round by another way to the "Indies." In nearly all European countries the turkey got names which show that most people thought it came from India, or at least from some part of the "Indies." Even in Engla

n Brazil, but the wood is not called after the country. On the contrary, the country is called after the wood. This kind of wood was already used in Europe in the twelfth century, and its name is found in several European languages. When the

e, people thought they had come from Africa. But in the seventeenth century a common voyage for ships was to sail from English or other European ports to the west coast of Africa, where bands of poor negroes were seized or bought, an

omes from America. Sedan chairs had nothing to do with Sedan in Franc

philologists used to do this, and then write down their guesses as facts. This caused a great deal of extra work for m