I like reading historical fiction, both mainstream and romance, and
unfortunately this means I sometimes encounter a word which was
completely unknown (or at minimum, unknown in the sense the writer
uses it) at the date of the story. This is particularly bothersome if
the period character actually says it. Usually I simply blink and
keep reading, but occasionally I've been tempted to follow the advice
of Dorothy Parker's famous review: "This is not a novel to be tossed
aside lightly. It should be thrown with great force."
Here is a partial list of words that have made me at least blink,
showing when each of them entered the English language. I could give
chapter and verse for many of them, but, as the saying goes, Names
Have Been Withheld to Protect the Guilty.
Note that some of these are what I call "soft anachronisms"
— terms which didn't exist at the time, but which were
well-formed from other words (particularly with Greek or Latin roots)
which were known. As such, the neologism would have been
perfectly understandable to educated readers or listeners of the
period. For example, hallucinate and
hallucination have been in use since the 1650's.
Nobody found a need for hallucinogen until 1954, but
it wouldn't have raised an eyebrow in 1654, since it is clearly
"that which produces hallucinations". Similarly, words like
acrophobia, claustrophobia, and
xenophobia could have been used hundreds of
years before they are actually recorded without anyone blinking. At
worst, the user might have been suspected of trying to show off his or
her knowledge of Greek. Shakespeare could have used the word
automobile, although he would have had points
deducted for mixing Greek auto- and Latin -mobile.
(The proper Greek for "self-moving" is
automaton, which indeed dates from about 1620, and
the Latin version, locomotive, was used in English in
1612.) Insecticide was first used in 1865, but
again, the obvious meaning of "insect killer" could have been
applied to preparations like fleabane or to people who swatted flies
in 1000 ce. (In fact, one of the first things to be
called an insecticide was the starling.)
A soft anachronism could even be composed of common English words: As
I mention below, "trouble-maker" isn't recorded until 1923, but it is
impossible to believe that Chaucer wouldn't have understood the phrase
in the 14th century. "Double chin" dates from 1832, and again, it
certainly could have been used much earlier without
confusion.
I've also included a few apparently non-existent words which are often
found in Georgian and Regency novels. These were usually perpetrated
by Georgette Heyer, who loved esoteric words and constructions in her
novels. Some of these may be from sources the dictionary-makers
haven't yet located, but allegedly she was not above making up a
plausible-looking word or phrase now and then just to embarrass
plagiarists. Since the current generation of historical romance
writers all cut their teeth on Heyer and recycle her vocabulary [and
plots] quite shamelessly, many of her usages are now common.
I hope writers will find this site helps them to avoid missteps, but I
understand how difficult it would be to attempt to eliminate all
errors without spending more time reading the Oxford English
Dictionary than writing books. In theory I approve of
accuracy, and I will admit I'm obsessive, but I will also admit that I
like to read, and I really don't want my favorite authors to starve
— I want them to write more (possibly inaccurate) books, not
fewer accurate ones.
Just to balance the above list of anachronisms, here are several
modern-looking words which were in use at an earlier date than one
might suspect. All these citations are for the current use of the
word; sometimes a different meaning existed even earlier.
Many words have changed meaning enough that, when used appropriately
in the context of an earlier century, they give quite the wrong
impression to a modern reader. Consider the following hypothetical
quotations from a historical novel:
The thief patted Sir C------- on the head,
rendering him unconscious. It originally meant to strike. The
oed has a citation about David patting Goliath with a
rock. No relation to "petting" — a pet is Gaelic for a
hand-raised lamb.
Lord S------- and Lady Y------ were married
yesterday at St. George's after a major capitulation between the two
families. In fact, both families were completely in favor of
the match from the start. A capitulation is a legal agreement neatly
arranged under seperate headings, or chapters, with no sense
of "surrender". Such legal paperwork was a normal precursor to
an aristocratic wedding at the time, of course. The current sense is
from diplomatic use to describe a peace treaty.
Lord Redstart's mother was somewhat deaf, and so
the dowager countess used a rare electrical microphone. From
1683 until the early 20th century, a microphone was an ear trumpet.
C.f. the much bigger megaphone. Electrical was a description of an
object made out of amber, Greek elektron. (The scientific
use came from rubbing amber to produce static electricity.)
Everyone knows that Prime Minister Disraeli and
Cardinal Newman are perverts. See above for the meaning of
pervert. Benjamin D'Israeli was born a Jew, but his father Isaac had
a disagreement with his synagogue and converted his entire family to
Christianity when the future statesman was thirteen. Newman rather
publicly converted from Anglican to Roman Catholic.
Lord Redstart was so fastidious that he only would
drink wine that had been defecated by his butler. Latin
feces meant "dregs", and defecate meant to purify or
refine — literally to remove sediment. There's a fairly
well-known line where a historian described how Martin Luther suddenly
began to defecate the Roman church. The meaning "void excrement"
is a euphemism that only dates from 1864, but as late as 1890 hosts
were still being advised to defecate the wine before dinner.
Yesterday, his majesty's urinator, Mr. Curtis, gave
a demonstration of his special urination techniques. Once, to
urinate meant to swim underwater. Mr. Curtis really existed; he was
the royal navy's professional salvage diver in the late 17th century,
and this passage is a direct quote from a newspaper article.
The Countess of Redstart was quite impressed that
her host had provided her with a solid gold pelvis. The Latin
meaning of "pelvis" was "wash basin"; the anatomy sense is
much more modern.
Lord and Lady Redstart sat in their pew at the
cathedral watching the priest use the lavatory. This was
another "basin" word (from Latin lavabo, to wash) and
was the normal ecclesiastical word for the basin used by a priest to
ceremonially wash his hands during mass. C.f. "washroom",
"bathroom", "rest room", "powder room", and many other
euphemisms for the smallest room in the house. Also see the next two
items.
Lady Redstart's dressing room featured a blue
velvet toilet with a gold and silver fringe. The original
meaning was "small cloth", particularly a decorative cloth laid
on a dressing table. It is somewhat more recognizable if spelled
"towelette". The word also could mean "protective towel" in
general, so this passage could have said that Lady Redstart's
head protruded from a toilet while her maid was dressing her hair.
From the covering sense it also came to mean the dressing table
itself, as in phrases like "the lady was at her toilet", while
the current euphemistic use is 20th century. (I also could have
brought up the image of a picnic where all the ladies were sitting on
toilets.)
Lady Redstart wore a very fetching commode on her
head while walking in the park. The literal sense of
"commode" is "convenience" (still seen in "accommodate"
and "discommode"), but in the 17th and 18th centuries it had two
other meanings — a chest of drawers and a tall headdress for
women. The word didn't become a euphemism for a chamber pot until the
middle of the 19th century — c.f. "the necessary" and
"the convenience" in the same sense.
Miss Hampton may have looked delicate, but she
could tackle a horse. In the 18th and early 19th centuries, to
tackle meant to equip, particularly to saddle or harness a horse.
(C.f. "tack" for the horse's equipment, and also "fishing
tackle".) The word progressed to "grab ahold of" about 1840.
The navy launched a new locomotive which
immediately sank. As mentioned above, "locomotive" was
applied to anything that could move by its own power, including
steamboats.
Miss S------ was cut by the tabbies at Almack's
because of a whispering campaign that she was a mechanic. The
literal meaning of mechanical is "having power" (it's related to
magic, may, and might), but it came to mean "working with the
hands" and then acquired the general sense of "common", by way
of "member of the laboring classes". As late as the 1960's, the
oed cites someone disapproving of a "mechanical
dress", and to call someone a mechanic was simply saying they were
vulgar.
Miss Hampton's father was a noted civilian.
As mentioned above, a civilian formerly was a magistrate;
specifically, an authority on civil law.
There was a pause in the battle while Napoleon
recharged his batteries. This one is easy —
"recharge" has had its literal meaning of "reload" for a
thousand years, and a battery, of course, is a group of guns.
At the garden party, Miss T------ was discovered
lying beneath a marquis. Until the 20th century, marquis,
marquise, and marquess were used interchangably. In fact, the missing
young lady had been overcome by the heat and was resting under a large
tent. To avoid this sort of confusion, the tent is now usually
spelled phonetically as "marquee" and the peer is pronounced
"markwess" (or "mahkwess" in England, of course), leaving
"marquise" (pronounced "markee") as a type of gemstone cut.
Lady J------- was quite promiscuous at the dining
table. "Promiscuous" simply means "indescriminate";
the restriction to the current sexual sense didn't occur until the
20th century. In the Lady's case, it meant she liked all kinds of
foods and would eat whatever was put in front of her — the
opposite of being picky or finicky.
Miss B----- was quite careless and extremely
meticulous. That sounds like a contradiction, but
"meticulous" was first used for "careful about small
details" in 1827; before that the meaning was "fearful".
(Latin had two words for fear — metus was a justified
fear, and timor was an unreasonable fear or panic, so a young
lady might be meticulous about being cornered by an amorous gentleman,
but timid when confronted with a mouse.)
King Edward was well-known for upsetting
churches. No, he didn't offend anybody. "Upset" once had
its literal meaning — to set up or erect. Therefore, good King
Edward built churches. In the early 19th century, the sense
changed to "overturn", its former opposite. In other words, the
meaning of upset was upset.
Miss Hampton was found squiggling in a lady-like
manner in the parlor. In addition to the "squirm +
wriggle" sense, it once meant to do fancy embroidery.
The evidence showed the thief had been justified,
so they buried him. Well into the 19th century, to justify
someone meant to summarily hang or lynch them -- literally, to "make
justice".
Lord Redstart threatened the highwayman with his
dick. In the 19th century it meant "riding whip"; the
first slang use for "penis" isn't until 1890. (Both the latter
sense and its synonym "dork" are probably from "dirk",
dagger.)
The Earl of Redstart strolled into the House of
Lords in his birthday suit. Originally, one's best clothes,
worn on special occasions like one's own or the King's birthday. The
sense of "bare skin" is a play on this.
According to Wellington's dispatches, Colonel
Thompson heroically kicked up his heels at Waterloo. As
mentioned in the Anachronism section earlier, the unfortunate colonel
was killed.
The Ton was shocked when Sir William was
found to be presentable. As mentioned above, it meant he was
subject to criminal prosecution.
The Hampton children are almost female.
Almost used to mean "mostly all". This looks odd in phrases like
"the residents of Tokyo are almost Japanese", but it is handy to
be able to say things like "lawyers are almost honest" or
"Congressmen are almost intelligent" without fear of libel.
There were six Hampton children, one boy and five girls.
Miss Hampton mentioned that she loved her horrid
little dog. The etymological meaning is "shaggy", and it was
still used in that sense into the 19th century.
Sir Walter Scott wrote many stirring adventures
about his brave fellow Albanians. Originally, and well into the
19th century, this referred to the Scots — Alba was the
Gaelic name of the country. After about 1600, it was also used to
describe a country in the Balkans, although the Roman province of
Albania had been on the Caspian, not the Adriatic.
Everyone was shocked when Lord Redstart avoided his
roadster. Avoid is "ex-void", to empty out. It was once
used in the literal sense — "We had extra guests for dinner
and avoided the cupboard." It also meant to expel —
"Ferdinand and Isabella avoided Spanish Jews," — and then
to leave. The current usage is from phrases like "Young ladies are
advised to avoid the vicinity of a rake," i.e., to leave the area,
not the person. In Regency times, a roadster was a horse for
long-distance traveling, so the earl fell off his horse. (Later in
the 19th century, a roadster was a light carriage; this is the meaning
which was transformed into an open two-seater automobile in the early
1900's.)
Wellington had two soldiers hanged for eloping
during the battle of Waterloo. The literal meaning of elope, in
use until about 1840, is simply "ex-lope", to run away, escape,
or abscond. Dickens mentioned a valet eloping with all the valuables.
In law, it meant a wife running away from her husband; the Gretna
Green sense of fleeing lovers came last.
Lord Redstart read an interesting article on the
erratic Huns and their emotions. The literal meaning of erratic
is "wandering", as in "knight errant". (It was once common
to see constructions like "St. Thomas was well-known for his
errors.") Emotion is "ex-motion", to move out, and once was a
synonym of "migration".
King Edward's strategy for controlling Wales
consisted mainly of building castles in the clouds. Until about
1350, the main meaning of cloud was "hill", with a secondary
meaning of "lump". It is the same word as clot and clod, with a
fundamental sense of "accumulated mass". C.f. a cumulus or
"hilly" cloud. My lead sentence for this section could
have been, The Round Table was shocked to learn
that Sir Lancelot was injured when his horse tripped over a
cloud.
Lady Redstart was unhappy with her chef, and told
him the dinner needed to have a better liason. Liason is a
relative of Latin ligare, to bind together — c.f
ligament and legato. Until the early 19th century, the only meaning
of liason was as a cooking term, namely the thickening of a sauce.
The general proposed that troops be trained to use
skates for military operations in the deep snow of the mountain
slopes. Skates in deep snow? Skating down a mountain? Well,
the word "skate" once meant a ski as well as the item for sliding
around on ice.
At Penzance, the shore is completely covered with
beach. The proper meaning of "beach" is pebbles or
shingle; the current meaning is from phrases like "walking along the
beach" being misinterpreted by those not living near the sea.
C.f. Beachy Head, where presumably the shore is quite rocky. (Shore
seems to be a "shear" word — the division between land and
water.)
The far-fetched creatures wrapped tightly around
the neck of the Countess of Redstart caused much comment at the
Opera. Until the late 19th century, creature was a synonym of
"creation" and could be used for anything created, animate or
artificial, so it was a perfectly reasonable term for a lady's
necklace. Similarly, far-fetched retained its literal meaning —
brought from afar — until at least 1870. Perhaps Lady
Redstart's necklaces came from India. From the time of Shakespeare,
"far-fetched and dear-bought" was a cliché for a gift sure
to impress a lady.
Those who have studied the amazing creature called
Stonehenge are certain that it is an organism. "Organism"
meant anything carefully laid out or organized; it was not used to
mean something which was alive until about 1830. See above for
"creature".
At the ball, Lady Redstart's only jewelry was a
large ultramarine ruby in her slot. The lady's pendent was
undoubtedly rare and costly, but not to the extent of being the only
blue ruby in creation. Ultramarine once had its literal meaning
— beyond the sea — and so the far-fetched ruby probably
came from Burma. The sense of "bright blue" came from the term being
applied to a pigment made from powdered lapis lazuli. (A blue ruby
would be a contradiction, since "ruby" is a member of the "red"
family.) As mentioned above, "slot" was an older word for cleavage.
Lady Redstart enjoyed growing flowers in her
stove. The original meaning of "stove" was a heated room,
and as late as 1870 one finds references to "stove-flowers",
indicating they had been grown in a stove, or hothouse.
C.f. "stew", whose literal sense is "Turkish bath", leading
both to "food cooked by steaming" and to "whorehouse".
The terrific pirate captain brandished a naked
brown sable he had withdrawn from his vagina, while the rest of his
bloodthirsty and impressively garnished tangerines took guesses with
their deadly trombones. This sounds like the opening of a Monty
Python skit, but…
-
"Sable" is the original form of the weapon now spelled "sabre" or
"saber" in English. Even so, it ought to be "shaber" —
c.f. German sabel, Italian sciabla, Hungarian
szablya, and Scottish shabble, all with an /SH/
sound.
-
"Brown" once meant "shiny" and was often applied to swords —
c.f. "burnish". (By the way, nobody knows why the other sable came to
mean "black"; the animal is quite definitely brown in the modern
sense.)
-
As mentioned above, "tangerine" once strictly meant a resident of
Tangier.
-
Well into the 19th century, "garnished" retained its etymological
meaning of armored — it's a relative of guard, ward, beware,
etc.
-
In addition to the musical sense, "trombone" (big horn, just as a
trumpet is a little one) once meant a blunderbuss, from the flaring
barrel of the gun.
-
The original meaning of "guess" was "take aim", giving the reader a
good idea of the accuracy of medieval weapons.
-
"Terrific" used to have the literal sense of "creating fear", as its
verb "terrify" still does.
-
Finally, "vagina" is simply the Latin word for sheath or scabbard; the
anatomical usage is much more modern. This also explains how
"vanilla" is really vaginilla, little vagina, from the
appearance of the pods.
The Times reported that the noted
sportsman Sir S------ was thrilled by an enraged bugle and died
instantly. Witnesses stated that his attention had been distracted by
a musket flying overhead. Bugle meant "wild ox"; the
musical instrument was originally a bugle-horn. As mentioned
previously, to thrill is to poke a hole through something, to pierce,
so the ox gored the unfortunate man. (C.f. nostril, a
"nose-thrill".) A musket was a small hawk before the name was
applied to a kind of gun. It's the same word as mosquito — a
"small fly", Latin musca. (The flying muskets were also
called tercels, because the male hawks were a third smaller than the
females.)
Lady Redstart was appalled to find a midget sitting
in her drawing room, and she ordered a footman to kill it. As
mentioned above, a midget was originally a "midge-ette", a small
fly.
General T------- was relieved because his magazine
had been circulated. Circulated once meant encircled. The
incompetent general was removed from his command for having gotten his
ammunition storage area surrounded by the enemy.
Everyone in the village agreed that the hideously
ugly old crone was glamorous, so they drowned her. As late as
the early 19th century, "glamour" meant magic, and a glamorous
woman was a witch. For the current use, c.f. "bewitching" and
"spellbinding".
Mr. Brummel was very handsome, and although he was
exquisitely polite, he was quite repulsive. It meant aloof.
The book could have said, Lady Redstart
made a repulsive hand gesture. Presumably she made a motion for
someone to keep their distance.
Lord Redstart told his wife to take an extra
footman as an escort so she would be less obnoxious. In
addition to the current sense of offensive, obnoxious once meant
"exposed to harm, in danger".
At court, Lord Redstart approached the throne and
told the queen that he was "Her Majesty's humble and devoted
prostitute." Prostitute could once be used in a
non-offensive sense to mean "servant", "slave", one showing
abject devotion.
At Christmas the family was greatly reduced, and
they joyfully impaled each other. The literal meaning of reduce
is "bring back"; c.f. to reduce a fracture. Therefore, the Yule
festivities in question featured a family reunion. One of the
meanings of impale was "enclose, fence in" behind a pale or
paling (God impaled Adam and Eve), and it was generalized to mean
"embrace" or "hug".
Miss C------ was quite vibrant before her first
waltz at Almacks. The young lady was so nervous she was
shaking. As mentioned earlier, the current sense of "lively"
dates only from 1867.
The earl and his friends enjoyed shooting for
pheasant in the remote jungles and deserts of Scotland. A
desert was any uninhabited area, with no sand dunes implied.
C.f. "deserted", Robinson Crusoe-style desert islands, and
19th-century maps showing "The Great American Desert" — the
grassland between the Mississippi and the Rockies. Jungle was a word
picked up from Hindi, where it did mean a sand-dune desert
— Sanskrit jangala meant "dry". It was applied in
Anglo-Indian to any uncultivated area, particularly one with scrub
trees, high grass, etc., and it is still used to mean "wild,
untamed" in phrases like a blackboard or asphalt jungle.
Presumably, Dartmoor could be described as a jungle.
Lord Redstart shivered and said, "Please light
the fire; this room is so humorous it is like a frigidaire."
Although most people probably think the refrigerator brand is a blend
of "frigid" and "air", the word is the French version of
Latin
frigidarium, the cold room in a public bath.
Presumably the earl spent some time in a frigidaire while in Paris on
his grand tour, or maybe his favorite Turkish bath in London featured
one. (The other two Roman bath chambers were the hot
calidarium and the warm
tepidarium. Some baths also
featured a dry heat chamber, the
laconicum, so-called because
supposedly invented by the Spartans.)
Humorous once meant damp, from the etymological sense — Latin
humor meant moisture.
"I do not wish to have anything to do with
Viscount M------; he is so humorous he beats his wife and
children." The nasty man was neither funny nor wet (see
above), he was moody. This goes back to the idea that body humours
(the fluids bile, blood, phlegm, choler, black choler, etc.) governed
behavior. C.f. bilious, sanguine (Latin sanguineus =
bloody), phlegmatic, choleric, and melancholy (Greek melos =
black) temperaments. The current "funny" usage of humorous is
due to phrases like "in good humor" to mean happy.
Wellington reported that although a British
commando had been cut into three pieces by the French, the parts
continued to fight valiantly until they eventually reunited.
Until about 1870, a commando was a military expedition, not a single
fighter.
Captain Hampton was very proud of his second-rate
ship. In British Navy terminology, a 1st-rate ship had at least
a hundred guns, while a 2nd-rate had between 90 and 98. They were
huge, with a complement of up to a thousand men. Here's a
sketch by Turner of one of these monsters,
showing the scale. During the Napoleonic Wars, the Navy had only 7 or
8 1st-rate and 15 or 20 2nd-rate ships at any one time, out of nearly
a thousand, so commanding a 2nd-rater was a
very important
position. For comparison, the USS
Constitution (Old
Ironsides), pride of the US Navy, was a 5th-rate heavy frigate.
Lord B----- challenged Sir J------ to a duel for
saying that he was a very prestigious humanitarian. As
mentioned above, until the 20th century, prestige meant trickery or
deception, while a humanitarian was a sanctimonious hypocrite.
Whenever Lord Redstart told his wife how much he
loved her, she resented his words and retaliated. This was
actually a happy marriage. Once upon a time, to resent was to feel
any emotion strongly, and to retaliate was to reply in kind,
good or bad.
The Earl looked quite fashionable in his pale blue
frock and fine lingerie as he walked through the park. In the
18th and 19th century, frock was used for a gentleman's coat with long
tails — still called a "frock coat". The word originally
meant a monk's habit and then a child's dress; the first use for adult
female fashion is about 1820. Once upon a time, lingerie simply meant
"linen garment" and could be outerwear for either sex. The
restriction to feminine undergarments is a euphemism from about 1850.
Lord Redstart's tailor delivered five pair of linen
panties for his lordship to wear. Until about 1850, panties
were men's underclothing — what would now be called underpants
or shorts.
"That may be the fattest hog I have ever seen,
but it is unbelievably slim." Well into the 19th century,
slim retained its original meaning of "sneaky" or "hard to
catch". It is possibly a member of the "slip/slide/slime"
family. The current sense came from its common use to describe a fox
or a pickpocket.
Lady Redstart is well-known for her extremely
enormous eyes. Enormous started out as a synonym of
"unusual" — literally, "out of the norm",
ex-norma. In fact, the countess was famous for her
mismatched eyes — one emerald green and one brown. Note that
"un-usual", "e-normous", "un-common", "ab-normal",
"a-typical", "un-conventional", "un-natural",
"ir-regular", and "extra-ordinary" are all of exactly the
same formation, and "eccentric" is "ex-center", out of the
center. Another quotation from the same book could have noted that
"Caroline Herschel's stature is enormous —
she is only four foot three," or "Once upon a time, enormous
dwarfs were common at European courts."
Enormous also could mean "outrageous", as in "He wore an enormous pink waistcoat."
C.f. "enormity". PS — outrage has nothing to do with rage;
it's from outré, the French version of ultra.
John Wesley was not a religious man.
"Religious" is a member of the "rule" family and once
specifically referred to persons who had taken the vows of a religious
order — monks, nuns, etc. The founder of Methodism definitely
did not qualify.
Lord W---- is no longer admitted to polite society
because he demoralized a girl he met at Almack's. It is even
whispered that he might be an amphibian. Before about 1850,
demoralize didn't mean "lower the morale of", it meant "lower
the morals of", i.e., debauch or corrupt. Amphibian,
meanwhile, is from Greek amphi-bios, both-life. In addition
to animals who can live both on land and in water, it once meant a
person who lived a double life, and in particular, one who was
bisexual. (C.f. "ambidextrous", which has also been used in
slang to describe someone who has twice the chance of getting a
Saturday night date.)
Lord Redstart was funky when he finished sparring
with Gentleman Jackson. The literal meaning is "sweaty" or
"strong-smelling". The jazz sense only dates from the 1950's to
describe music which was earthy and raw, as opposed to performances
which had been polished or watered-down for public consumption.
By the end of his European tour, the earl was
thoroughly ionized. In the 19th century, the word Ionize meant
"take on the speech or fashion of the Greek province of Ionia".
This is a completely different word than the electrical ion, coined by
Faraday from Greek ionai, to go.
While driving his high-perch phaeton, Lord Redstart
astounded his neighbor by concurring with him, and broke the man's
arm. Lord Redstart suffered crucial injuries, but they were only
scratches. The original meaning of "concur" was straight
from the Latin con-currere, to "run together", i.e.,
violently collide. The "agree" sense is much later. Once upon a
time, astonish, astound, and stun were synonyms — to knock
unconscious. See "stunning" above. Also as mentioned
previously, "crucial" once meant ✕-shaped.
Lord Redstart won the race because his curricle had
a more powerful motor than that of his opponent. As mentioned
previously, motor was simply a synonym of mover, so the earl had a
better horse.
The Archbishop of Canterbury organized a lusty orgy
at St. Paul's cathedral last evening. Orgy retained its
original Greek meaning of "ritual" or "ceremony" right up to
1900, in addition to the sense of "revelry" derived from the
drunken Dionysian Orgies of antiquity. A hymn of 1744 contains the
lines,
Pious orgies, pious airs,
Decent sorrow, decent prayers,
Will to the Lord ascend.
