Names That Became Everyday Words –Too Late for You

You probably won’t be writing about anyone gerrymandering in Ancient Greece or say that Marie Antoinette wore a “Mae West “. But there are some words that well-respected historical novelists let slip into their stories without realizing that the persons from whom the names were “lifted” weren’t even born the year the story took place. For instance, characters in Michael Jecks’ The Abbot’s Gibbet worry about being “lynched by a lynch mob” in the time of Edward II.

Or is it that cut-and-dried? Could some of these words have been mistakenly attributed to famous names?

boycott

Captain Charles Boycott (1832-1897) was the agent of an absentee English landlord in County Mayo, Ireland. When tenants demanded lower rents, Boycott evicted them. The tenants decided that instead of resorting to violence to protest the evictions, they would convince everyone to refuse to deal with him in any business situation. The word boycott came to mean to refuse to buy a product in order to use the economic hardship to change the behavior of a business. This one is a true case of a “timely” word that cannot be used in stories that take place before 1880 when it was first used in print.

Lynch

There are several people named Lynch whose behavior may have caused their names to be synonymous with extra judicial hanging sentences. One may be James Lynch, the mayor of Galway, Ireland, who hanged his own son from their house’s balcony for the murder of a Spanish visitor in 1483. This is disputed, but is as logical as the other attributions in colonial Virginia. Depending on how Jecks spelled it, however, it might be quite “timely” as it may actually derive from the word “linch” meaning “to beat severely with a pliable instrument, to chastise or to maltreat”. It appeared in print as “Lynch” in 1836, as “linch” no earlier than 1570 when it meant “to limp”.

martinet

Here is another one that may or may not fit this definition. It is true that Louis XIV’s Inspector General of the Army was named Jean Martinet, but a “martinet” is also a type of whip. Another interpretation comes from a witch trial from the early 1500s where the women tried referred to the Devil as Martinet (maistre Martinet), or the Little Master (petit maistre). First in print in1670 or in the final instance above, by Ben Jonson in 1609 in Masque Queens B 2, “Their litle Martin is he that calls them to their Conuenticles.”.

masochism

A verified “timely” word often, with “sadism” noted by historical novelists as a no-no in books taking place before the man’s stay on Earth. Leopold Ritter[1] von Sacher-Masoch (1836–1895) was a poet and novelist, as well as the author of a progressive literary review that preached against antisemitism and for the emancipation of women. In his private life he gave himself to a certain baroness as a sexual slave. Later the second half of his last name became synonymous with a sexual aberration where a person, the masochist, requires cruelty to enjoy the act. It now can mean nothing more than a person who likes to be unhappy. But if your novel takes place before 1886. it is off limits. That is, the word is off limits… you can use the disorder undiagnosed.

quisling

You can say Robert the Bruce betrayed William Wallace, but you can’t say Bruce was a quisling. Vidkun Quisling collaborated with nazi Germany against his homeland, Norway. You may not use the term to denote a traitor or collaborator unless it is being used after December 28, 1941, when it was first used thus by Winston Chrchill in an address to the American Congress.

sadism

Donatien Alphonse François, marquis de Sade (1740–1814) predates his partner in sado-masochism, but he is just as “timely”. He was an aristocrat, revolutionary and writer of novels, short stories, plays and political tracts. He is better known in common parlance for being, well, a sadist. He lived a scandalous life of debauchery that included abuse – unlike Masoch, of others. In one famous episode a woman he had imprisoned and abused physically and sexually escaped to tell the world, after which de Sade was put under surbveillence and caught at it. His name did not become a diagnosis until 1843. Sio, again, you can create all the sadistic characters you want. You just can’t call them that until after 1843.

sideburns

Also called sideboards, sideburns is basically a full beard with the chin shaved bare. That leaves the moustache and “sideburns”. A similar fashion is called mutton chops, as a result of their shape. The man whose name was adopted for the former term, sort of, was Ambrose Everett Burnside (1824–1881), a Union general in the American Civil War. His habit of wearing his facial hair as described here resulted in the style called burnsides and later sideburns. How likely you are to want to say your Roman era protagonist wore sideburns is dubious, but if you do, call it something else.


Other words for which you might check the derivation before using them in your historical novel are: cardigan and raglan, jumbo, pompadour, chauvinism, rubenesque and “Wellies”.