Part 27

=Suffragette.= If this latter-day term possesses any etymological significance whatever, it expresses the diminutive of one who claims the suffrage or the right, from the Latin _suffragio_, to vote. A suffragette is, in brief, a woman who ought to know better. Eager to take upon herself the responsibilities of citizenship on a common footing with the male orders of creation, she cannot but shirk those which rightly belong to her own state.

=Sulky.= A two-wheeled carriage for a single person, so called from the popular idea at the time of its introduction that anyone who wished to ride alone could not be otherwise than morose and sulky in his disposition.

=Sumatra.= From the Arabic _Simatra_, “happy land.”

=Sumner Street.= After Dr Sumner, Bishop of Winchester, one of the last occupants of Winchester House in this neighbourhood.

=Sun.= An inn sign after the heraldic device of Richard II.

=Sunday.= The first day of the week, dedicated in the Scandinavian mythology to sun-worship.

=Sun-down.= An Americanism for “sunset.”

=Sunflower.= So called from the form and colour of its flower. See “Heliotrope.”

=Sunnites.= The orthodox Mohammedans, who accept the _Sunna_, or collective traditions, equally with the Koran.

=Sunset Land.= Arizona, on account of its glorious sunsets.

=Supers.= In theatrical parlance short for “supernumeraries,” those who form the stage crowds, but have no individual lines to speak.

=Supper.= A term which has survived the changes of time. We still invite a friend to “sup” with us, but the repast is more or less a substantial one. Anciently the last meal of the day consisted only of soup.

=Surrey.= From the Anglo-Saxon _Suth-rey_, south of the river--_i.e._ the Thames.

=Surrey Street.= After the town mansion and grounds of the Howards, Dukes of Norfolk and Earls of Arundel and Surrey.

=Suspenders.= An Americanism for trouser braces.

=Sussex.= The territory of the _Suth-seaxe_, or South Saxons, under the Heptarchy.

=Sutton Place.= After Thomas Sutton, founder of the Charter House, whom the good folk of Hackney were proud to number among their residents on this spot.

=Swallow Street.= It is difficult to imagine that this once merited the name of “Slough Street,” on account of its miry condition; but such is the fact.

=Swan Alley.= From the ancient town house of the Beauchamps, whose crest was a swan.

=Swan-Upping.= The name given from time immemorial by the Vintners’ Company to their annual up-Thames visitation of the swans belonging to them for the purpose of marking their bills with two nicks, by way of distinguishing them from the royal swans, that have five nicks.

=Swan with two Necks.= An ancient London inn sign, corrupted from “The Swan with two Nicks,” in compliment to the Vintners’ Company. See “Swan-Upping.”

=Sweating.= A word used in the original Biblical sense, and applied to the unhealthy conditions which obtain among the denizens of the East End of London, specifically the Jewish tailors, numbers of whom work together in the fœtid atmosphere of a single small room.

=Swedenborgians.= The followers of Emmanuel Swedenborg, the Swedish mystic. Prior to 1719, when his family became ennobled, his real name was Svedborg.

=Swedish Nightingale.= Jenny Lind Goldschmidt, the rage of musical London, who died in 1887.

=Sweepstake.= Money staked on a race by different persons, the fortunate winner among whom takes the whole amount, literally at one sweep.

=Sweetbriar.= Expresses a “fragrant thorn.”

=Sweetheart.= A corruption of “Sweetard,” the suffix _ard_ expressing the intensitive in many class names, such as “Dotard,” “Bastard,” etc.

=Swell.= Slang for one of the upper classes, no doubt suggested by the phrase: “The bloated aristocracy.” Also applied to an overdressed person puffed out with the idea of his own importance.

=Switches.= An Americanism for ladies’ hair curlers, fringes, and other hirsute appendages.

=Switzerland.= The English form of the Austrian Schwyz and German Schweitz, originally the name of the three forest cantons whose people threw off the Austrian yoke and asserted the independence of the whole country.

=Switzerland of America.= West Virginia, so called on account of its mountains.

=Sworn Brothers.= An ancient legal phrase signifying that two friends had entered into a solemn compact to lend mutual aid and protection and share each other’s fortunes. This custom was of Scandinavian origin.

=Sydenham.= Expresses the home or family settlement in the south.

=Symmetrion Girl.= See “Sandow Girl.”

T

=Tabard.= The famous inn sign in Southwark immortalised by Chaucer’s “Canterbury Pilgrims,” from the ancient tunic with wide flap sleeves still worn by the heralds.

=Tableaux Vivants.= French for “living pictures,” specifically the realisation of a celebrated painting or a scene from history by a group of persons.

=Table d’Hôte.= Most people are under the impression that this term means a dinner as served at a hotel. This is erroneous. Its literal signification is “the table of the host.” Until quite modern days a traveller who desired to be served with a meal at an inn had to take it with the landlord at his own table.

=Taboo.= Strictly speaking, there is no such word as “tabooed,” yet we generally find it employed in the place of “taboo.” The latter is the European rendering of the Polynesian _tapu_, signifying a thing reserved or consecrated to the use of one person. For a South Sea Islander to exclaim _tapu_ when he sees anything that he fancies, is tantamount to saying “I claim this thing; anyone else who touches it shall die.” Amongst ourselves a subject which is _taboo_ must not be discussed.

=Taffy.= The generic name for a Welshman, corrupted from Davy, which is short for David, the most common Christian name of the country, in honour of St David.

=Tagus.= The Phœnician for “river of fish.”

=Tailor.= From the French _tailleur_, based upon the verb _tailler_, to cut.

=Take a Back Seat.= An Americanism for “You have outdone me; I’ll retire from the front row.”

=Take a Rise out of Him.= To take an undue advantage, to benefit by a mean action. This originated in fly-fishing; when a fish sees the fly held out of the water it rises to seize the coveted prey, and is caught itself.

=Takes the Cake.= An expression derived from the Cake Walking competitions of the Negroes in the southern states of the American Union. A cake is placed on the ground, and the competitors, male and female, walk around it in couples. Those who disport themselves most gracefully take the cake as their prize.

=Take your Hook.= See “Sling your Hook.”

=Talbot.= An inn sign in compliment to the Earls of Shrewsbury.

=Talbotype.= A process of photography, by means of the Camera Obscura, invented by Fox Talbot in 1839.

=Talking Shop.= The nickname for the House of Commons. See “Parliament.”

=Tally Ho!= From the Norman hunting cry _Taillis au_ (“To the coppice”), raised when the stag made for its native place of safety.

=Tallyman.= One who supplies goods on the weekly instalment system, so called originally from the acknowledgments for payments that he gave to his customers having to “tally” or agree with the entries in his book. Why such a one should be ashamed of his old-time designation, and now style himself a “Credit Draper,” can only be explained on the ground that the tallyman is in bad odour with the husbands of the guileless women whom he systematically overcharges. See “Government Stock.”

=Tammany Ring.= The name given to certain officials of the Democratic party in New York who in 1871 were punished for having during a long series of years plundered the people wholesale. Tammany Hall was the place where they held their meetings. This was originally the headquarters of a benevolent society, but it degenerated into a political club. By way of accounting for the designation, it may be added that Tammany or Tammenund was the name of a famous Indian chief of the Delaware tribe, greatly beloved by his people.

=Taming the Alps.= A phrase which has lately come into vogue through the popular solicitude to prevent intrepid amateurs from climbing the Alps without the assistance of local guides.

=Tantalise.= A word based upon the fable of Tantalus, a son of Jupiter, who, because he betrayed his father’s secrets, was made to stand up to his chin in water, with branches of luscious fruit over his head, but when he wished to drink or to eat the water and the fruit receded from him.

=Tapestry.= From the French _tapisserie_, based on the Latin _tapes_, a carpet.

=Tapster.= The old name for a tavern-keeper or his assistant, applied in days when taps were first fitted to barrels for drawing off liquor.

=Tarantella.= A dance invented for the purpose of inducing perspiration as a supposed remedy for the poisonous bite of the Tarantula spider, which received its name from the city of Taranto in Italy, where its baneful effects were first noted.

=Tarlatan.= From Tarare in France, the chief seat of the manufacture.

=Tar Heels.= The nickname of the people of South Carolina, relative to the tar industry in its lowland forests.

=Tarragona.= Called by the Romans _Tarraco_, after the name given to the city by the Phœnicians, _Tarchon_, “citadel.”

=Tarred with the same Brush.= This expression originated in the custom of marking the sheep of different folds formerly with a brush dipped in tar, but nowadays more generally in red ochre.

=Tart.= A punning abbreviation of “Sweetheart.”

=Tasmania.= After Abel Jansen Tasman, the Dutch navigator, who discovered it in 1642.

=Tattersall’s.= After Richard Tattersall, who established his famous horse repository near Hyde Park Corner in 1786; on 10th April 1865 it was removed to its present locale at Knightsbridge.

=Taunton.= The town on the River Tone.

=Tavern.= From the Latin _taberna_, a hut of boards.

=Tavistock.= The stockaded place on the Tavy.

=Tavistock Street.= After the ancestor of the present great ground landlord, Thomas Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton, Marquis of Tavistock, and Duke of Bedford, the father of the celebrated Rachel who became the wife of Lord William Russell, beheaded in 1683. The square and place similarly designated are included in the ducal estate.

=Tawdry.= A word derived from the cheap, showy lace anciently sold at the annual fair of St Audrey in the Isle of Ely. This was called St Audrey’s lace, afterwards corrupted into Tawdrey. The name of St Audrey itself was a corruption of St Ethelreda.

=Tay.= From the Celtic _tain_, river.

=Tearless Victory.= Plutarch in his “Lives” gave this name to the great victory won by Archimandus, King of Sparta, over the Arcadians and Argives, B.C. 367, without the loss of a single Spartan soldier.

=Teetotaler.= This designation of a total abstainer arose out of the stammering address at Preston in September 1833 of one Richard Turner, who concluded by saying: “Nothing but t-t-t-t-total abstinence will do--that or nowt!”

=Teetotum.= A coined term for a Working Man’s Total Abstinence Club, suggested by the word “Teetotaler.”

=Teignmouth.= Situated at the mouth, or in the estuary of, the Teign, which name is a variant of the Celtic _tain_, river.

=Tell that to the Marines.= In the old days, before the bluejackets proved themselves as good fighting men on land as at sea, the Marines were an indispensable adjunct to the Navy, but as time hung heavily upon their hands they were always ready to listen to a story. Finding that they were easily gullible, the sailors loved to entertain them with the most extraordinary yarns, and, while on shore, if they heard a wonderful story themselves they made up their minds to “tell that to the Marines.”

=Temple.= The seat of the “Knights Templars” in this country down to the time of the dissolution of their Order by Edward II. in 1313.

=Temple Bar.= The ancient gateway, at the western extremity of Fleet Street, defining the “liberty” of the city of London on that side, and originally set up as the ordinary entrance to the London house of the Knights Templars. Taken down in 1878, the “Bar” now adorns the park of Sir Henry Meux at Theobalds, Cheshunt, Herts.

=Tenement House.= An Americanism for a dwelling-house let off to different families.

=Tennessee.= Indian for “river of the great bend.”

=Tent Wine.= A corruption of _vinto tinto_, the Spanish for a white wine coloured.

=Terpsichorean Art.= After Terpsichore, one of the Nine Muses, who presided over dancing.

=Terra-cotta.= Italian for “baked earth”--_i.e._ clay.

=Texas.= Indian for “the place of protection,” where a colony of French refugees were kindly received in 1817.

=Thaler.= Originally called a Joachims-Thaler, because this German coin was struck out of silver found in the thal, or dale, of St Joachim in France about 1518. From this “Thaler” the term “Dollar” has been derived.

=Thames.= To assert that this name has been derived from the Latin (?) _Thamesis_, “the broad Isis,” or that it expresses the conjunction of the Thame and the Isis, is ridiculous. The word is wholly Celtic, from _tam_, smooth, and _esis_, one of the many variants of the original _uisg_, water. It is quite true that that portion of our noble river which flows past Oxford is called the Isis, but the name is scholastic only, and cannot be found in any ancient charter or historical document. _Thames_ simply means smooth water, or, if we care to admit it, “the smooth Isis.”

=Thames Street.= Runs parallel to the river on the north bank.

=Thanet Place.= This _cul de sac_ at the eastern end of the Strand received its name from the Earl of Thanet, the owner of the land prior to 1780.

=Thavie’s Inn.= A range of modern buildings on the site of an ancient appendage to Lincoln’s Inn, so called by the Benchers in honour of John Thavie, an armourer, who when he died in 1348 left a considerable amount of property to the parish church of St Andrew.

=Theobalds Road.= So called because James I. was wont to pass along it on the way to his favourite hunting-seat at Theobalds in Hertfordshire. See “Kingsgate Street.”

=Thespian Art.= After Thespis, the Father of the Greek Drama.

=Thirteen Cantons.= A tavern sign off Golden Square, complimentary to the Cantons of Switzerland, at a time when Soho was as much a Swiss colony as it is now French.

=Thomas Street.= In honour of Thomas Guy, the founder of the Hospital, also named after him.

=Thomists.= Those who accepted the teaching of St Thomas Aquinas, in opposition to that of John Duns Scotus relative to the Immaculate Conception.

=Threadneedle Street.= A corruption of, first, “Thridneedle,” and later “Three-Needle” Street, so called from the arms of the Needlemakers’ Company.

=Three Chairmen.= A tavern sign in Mayfair, this house being the regular resort of gentlemen’s servants in the days when sedan-chairs were fashionable.

=Three Exes.= The nickname of the 30th Regiment of Foot (XXX).

=Three Kings.= An inn sign derived from the Magi or Three Wise Men who came to adore the new-born Saviour at Bethlehem.

=Three Men Wine.= The name borne by a very bad wine which requires two men to hold the victim, while a third pours it down his throat.

=Three Nuns.= A tavern sign in Aldgate, reminiscent of the neighbouring priory of the Nuns of St Clare in ancient times.

=Three Suns.= An inn sign derived from the device of Edward IV. as King of England.

=Throgmorton Street.= After the wealthy London banker, Sir Nicholas Throgmorton.

=Throw up the Sponge.= Originally a boxing expression. When a prize-fighter had been badly bruised in the first round he often declined the sponge offered to him by his second, or, in a sudden fit, threw it up in the air, declaring he had had enough of it; hence to “throw up the sponge” is to acknowledge oneself beaten.

=Thundering Legion.= The name ever afterwards borne by that Roman legion which, A.D. 179, overthrew the power of the Alemanni by defeating them during a thunderstorm, which was thought to have been sent to them in answer to the prayers of the Christians.

=Thurlow Place.= After Lord Chancellor Thurlow, whose residence was in Great Ormond Street, close by.

=Thursday.= The day of Thor, the God of Thunder, in the Scandinavian mythology.

=Tied House.= A public-house owned or financed by a firm of brewers, with the result that the nominal landlord is not allowed to replenish his stock from any other brewer.

=Tierra del Fuego.= Spanish for “land of fire,” so called from a volcano on the largest island which throws up flame and smoke visible a very great distance out at sea.

=Tight.= Intoxicated, because a person in this state generally clutches tight hold of a street lamppost or a convenient railing when unable to walk home after a debauch.

=Tighten your Purse Strings.= See “Purse Strings.”

=Tilbury.= The ancient form of the name of the village two miles west of Tilbury Fort was _Tillaburgh_, after one Tilla, a Saxon, of whom, however, nothing is now known. A small two-wheeled gig without a cover is called a Tilbury, after a London sportsman who introduced it nearly a century ago.

=Tinker.= A corruption of “tinner,” or tin-worker. This has given rise to the verb “to tinker,” which meant originally to hammer lightly at a thing after the style a tinman, without being able to repair it in a thoroughly workman-like manner.

=Tintoretto.= The better known name of the famous Italian painter, Jacopo Robusti, because his father was a _tintore_, or dyer.

=Tobacco.= From _tobaco_, the inhaling tube of the North American Indians. By the Spaniards alone has the original spelling of the name, now given universally to the fragrant weed itself, been preserved.

=Tobago Island.= So called by Columbus on account of its resemblance to the inhaling tube of the Indians, the _tobaco_.

=Toddy.= From the Hindoo _taudi_, a stimulating beverage made from the juice of various palm-trees.

=Toff.= A vulgar corruption of the University term “Tuft,” a young nobleman who pays high fees and is distinguished by a golden tuft or tassel on his cap.

=Toggery.= A term derived from the same source as “Togs.”

=Togs.= Slang for clothes, but originally derived from _toga_, the characteristic male garment of the Romans.

=Tokay.= An excellent white wine produced in the district of the same name in Upper Hungary.

=Tokenhouse Yard.= Marks the site of the ancient Token-House, which came into existence through the insufficiency of small copper coinage. A number of Nuremberg “tokens” having been introduced into this country, tradesmen imported large quantities of them for purposes of small (halfpenny and farthing) change, but instead of being kept in circulation such tokens were afterwards exchanged by the inhabitants of the city for their face value at the Token-House. About the same time various municipalities throughout the country manufactured their own tokens. The London Token-House was swept away by the Great Fire and never rebuilt.

=Toledo.= From the Hebrew _H’toledoth_, “generations,” “families,” relative to the Jewish founders of the city.

=Tom Folio.= The sobriquet of Thomas Rawlinson, the bibliomaniac.

=Tommy Atkins.= This general designation of an English soldier arose out of the hypothetical name, “Thomas Atkins,” which at one time figured in the Paymaster-General’s monthly statement of accounts sent to the War Office. So much money claimed by “Thomas Atkins” meant, of course, the regular pay for the rank and file.

=Tom Tidler’s Ground.= A corruption of “Tom the Idler’s Ground.”

=Tontine.= The name given to a system of reducing the State Loans in France in 1653 after Lorenzo Tonti, a Neapolitan protegé of Cardinal Mazarin, its projector. According to this system, when one subscriber dies, the money accredited to him passes to the others, until the last survivor inherits the whole amount.

=Tooley Street.= Originally “St Olaff Street” after the parish church dedicated to St Olaff or Olave. This thoroughfare was in the time of the Commonwealth known as “St Tulie Street,” of which its modern name is an easy corruption.

=Toothpicks.= A nickname borne by the people of Arkansas on account of the Bowie Knives carried by the early settlers.

=Topaz.= From _topazios_, after _Topazos_, the Greek name of an island in the Red Sea where this gem was anciently

=Tories.= Originally, during the Restoration period, the nickname bestowed by the Protestants on their religious and political opponents. This was in derisive allusion to a band of outlaws that infested the bog districts of Ireland, the word _toree_ being Gaelic for a robber.

=Toronto.= Indian for “oak-trees beside the lake.”

=Torquatus.= See “Manlius Torquatus.”

=Torres Strait.= After the Spanish navigator, L. N. de Torres, who discovered it in 1606.

=Torrington Square.= After the family name of the first wife of John, the sixth Duke of Bedford, the ancestor of the great ground landlord.

=Tothill Street.= A name which recalls the ancient manor of Tothill, properly Toothill--_i.e._ beacon hill. Wherever _toot_ or _tot_ appears in a place-name, it points to the one-time existence of a beacon.

=Totnes.= A corruption of “Toot Ness,” the beacon on the headland.

=Tottenham.= From “Totham,” a corruption of _Toot ham_, the house or hamlet by the beacon.

=Tottenham Court Road.= So called ever since the days of Elizabeth because it then led to “Tottenham Court.” This was an ancient manor, originally belonging to St Paul’s, and held in the reign of Henry III. by William de Tottenhall.

=Touched him on the Raw.= Reminded him of something which hurt his feelings. This expression arose out of an ostler’s solicitude to avoid a sore place on a horse while grooming him.

=Toulon.= The _Telonium_ of the Romans, so called after Telo Martius, the tribune who colonised it.

=Tractarians.= Those Oxford men who assisted Dr Pusey with the composition of the famous “Tracts for the Times,” as well as those who accepted the opinions expressed therein.

=Trafalgar Square.= From the Nelson Column, set up in 1843, two years before the square itself was laid out as it now exists.

=Traitors’ Gate.= The riverside entrance to the Tower of London reserved for State prisoners convicted of high treason.

=Tramway.= An abbreviation of “Outram way,” after Benjamin Outram of Derbyshire, who was the first to place his sleepers end to end the whole length of the rails, instead of crosswise, as on our railways. Long before this, however, the word “Tram” had been applied to a coal waggon or truck in the colliery districts, while the rails on which a vehicle ran bore the name of a “Tramroad.”

=Transformation Scene.= So called because in the good old days of Pantomine the Fairy Queen was at this juncture of the entertainment supposed to transform the chief characters of the “opening” into Clown, Pantaloon, Harlequin, Columbine, and Policeman.

=Transvaal.= Expresses the territory beyond the Vaal River.