| | | You might be wondering where they came up with that term describing Errol Flynn.
The traditional swashbuckler, described by the Oxford English Dictionary as ‘a swaggering bravo or ruffian; a noisy braggadocio’, was, indeed, someone who ‘swashed his buckle’. To ‘swash’, in the sixteenth century, was to dash or strike something violently, while a ‘buckler’ was a small round shield, carried by a handle at the back. So a swashbuckler was literally one who made a loud noise by striking his own or his opponent’s shield with his sword. Errol Flynn also had roles as both a buccaneer and a musketeer. The origin of musketeer is quite simple: a soldier who fought with a musket. But a buccaneer may surprise. It originally meant someone who hunted wild oxen, because boucaner in French was to dry or cure meat on a boucan: a barbecue, in the manner of the Indians. The name was first given to the French hunters of St Domingo, who prepared the flesh of the wild oxen and boars in this way. This included hunters at sea: pirates who lurked off the West Indies, and so over time a buccaneer became a byword for a hostile sea rover.
Next on the list is Hankerchief or "hanky."
Well first off you are mispronouncing it. The word is Handkerchief ... hand + kerchief ( in old English ker=to cover, chief=head). In old French the word is couvrechief.
Remember: "And mamma in her 'kerchief, and I in my cap, Had just settled our brains for a long winter's nap" ("A Visit from Saint Nicholas," by Clement Clarke Moore). |
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