Why the original Dunce was a genius!

... and how a Mr Burnside gave us sideburns — two of the fascinating stories of the people whose names became everyday words

FROM boycotts to Biros, the English language is rich in eponyms — a place or thing named after individuals. But who were the people behind them? In a fascinating new book, CLAIRE COCK-STARKEY reveals all . . .

BOYCOTT — protesting by refusing to engage commercially or otherwise with a company, political party or person

During the irish Land War in 1880, tenants who were charged unfair rents were encouraged to stop dealing with the land agents representing their affluent landlords.

One early non-violent protest was against Charles C. Boycott, a wealthy retired Army officer turned farmer in County Mayo. When his tenants, who as part of their rental agreement farmed his land for him, asked him to reduce rents by 25 per cent, Boycott refused and attempted to evict them.

in response, they refused to talk to anyone associated with him and withdrew their labour.

Their efforts were ultimately futile. After the incident was reported in the newspapers, a ‘Boycott relief Fund’ was established and volunteers from Belfast arrived to harvest the crop.

DUNCE — someone who is slow at learning

The word ‘dunce’ is derived from a 13th-century monk, John Duns Scotus.

Scotus — who hailed from the village of Duns in Scotland — was a theologian of great repute. indeed his scholarship remains highly esteemed in the Catholic Church and he was beatified by Pope John Paul ii in 1993 — the first step to becoming a saint.

During the Protestant reformation in the 16th century, Catholic teachings were widely criticised, and adherents of Scotus’s beliefs were characterised as too stupid to think for themselves. Anyone espousing his theories became known as ‘Duns’ and considered intellectually inferior.

FOXTROT — a ballroom dance

The foxtrot is said to have been invented by vaudeville entertainer harry Fox in 1914 when he began performing a fast yet simple trotting- style dance during his performances at the new York Theatre.

The dance was immediately popular in clubs, and by the end of 1914 the American Society Of Professors Of Dancing decided to teach it as the Foxtrot.

GUILLOTINE — execution machine consisting of a sharp blade which drops between a wooden frame to swiftly sever the head

in 1779, Dr Joseph ignace guillotin, a senior Parisian politician opposed to capital punishment, suggested to the French national Assembly that an execution machine which was fast and efficient would be more humane.

A prototype was designed and the first victim (a highwayman) was beheaded in 1792.

During the French revolution between 1789-99, guillotin became horrified that his name was associated with the device and petitioned the government to change its name. When this failed, his family changed their surname to escape the gruesome association.

SIDEBURNS — facial hair at the sides of the head, in front of the ear

WHILE side whiskers have existed for centuries, sideburns got their name from the popular American general and politician Ambrose e. Burnside, who sported prominent mutton chops.

This memorable style caught the public imagination and — despite his military failures during the Civil War in the 1860s — people soon referred it as ‘burnsides’.

Over time the term was modified to sideburns — possibly because the hair concerned is on the side of the face.

MAVERICK — someone who does things their own way

SAMUEL Augustus Maverick was a lawyer and Texan landowner, holding more than 385,000 acres. in 1845, he acquired 400 cattle as payment for a debt and Maverick, who had no ranching experience, took the unorthodox decision to leave the cattle unbranded and allowed them to wander across his vast estate. unsurprisingly, when any strayed into another rancher’s territory they were swiftly branded and claimed. Thus any unmarked cow became a ‘ Maverick’. And maverick came to refer to a different way of doing things.

SHRAPNEL — exploded fragments from the metal cases of artillery

HENRY SHRAPNEL was a British Army officer who, in 1784, perfected the design for the exploding shell. Shrapnel thought he could make the cannon ball more deadly by filling a hollow shell with small metal balls, gunpowder and its own fuse. This would allow the shell to explode over the enemy.

The Army adopted Shrapnel’s invention in 1803 and it was used to devastating effect at Waterloo in 1815. Shrapnel shells were used until the beginning of World War ii, when they were replaced by new highly explosive ammunition, sich as the Ordnance QF 25- Pounder. But ‘shrapnel’ was retained to describe the exploded metal from shell casings, which still wreak havoc on the battlefield.

DIESEL — a type of internal combustion engine; a type of fuel

RUDOLF Diesel was a French– german engineer who invented the diesel engine in 1893.

Compared to petrol engines, his compression- ignition design required much less fuel. The fuel, also cheaper to produce, became known as ‘diesel’ as well. Diesel did not live to see the huge success of his invention, which after World War i became the dominant engine in ships trucks and trains.

NICOTINE — the active ingredient in the leaf of the tobacco plant

JEAN NICOT was a French diplomat sent to Lisbon in 1557 to negotiate a marriage between Margaret of Valois and King Sebastian i of Portugal. Although the trip was unsuccessful, he was introduced to the tobacco plant. impressed, he sent seed samples to Catherine de Medici in France. nicot instructed the queen how to crush the tobacco leaves into a powder, which could then be sniffed to cure ailments. The habit became popular at court before spreading across France. in 1753, Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus immortalised nicot by naming a genus of tobacco ‘cultivars nicotiana’. Later, in 1828 when the active ingredient in tobacco was first identified, it was given the name nicotine.

BIRO — ballpoint pen

HUNGARIAN László Bíró was a newspaper editor who became fed up with fountain pens leaking onto the page. he worked with his brother györgy and machinist Andor goy to develop a ballpoint pen that controlled the flow of ink, and by 1931 Bíró developed a prototype. During World War ii, the RAF ordered more than 30,000 ballpoint pens from Bíró because, unlike fountain pens, they did not leak at high altitude.

MACKINTOSH — a long waterproof coat

The coat was named after the man who invented the fabric, Charles Macintosh.

he was a glasgow chemist who experimented with naphtha, a by-product of coal tar, and created a paste which could be sandwiched between two layers of fabric to make a waterproof material.

Waterproof coats were smelly and some melted in hot weather. But in 1843 Macintosh developed a hardened melt-proof rubber (vulcanised) by heating it at high temperature to improve the finish.

HOOVER — to vacuum; a vacuum cleaner

JANITOR James Murray Spangler invented the first upright vacuum cleaner in 1908 to improve his asthma with more efficient cleaning. But he struggled to market it to a wider public.

u.S. leather goods manufacturer William henry hoover saw the potential and bought his patent.

Offering customers a free tenday trial proved highly effective and by 1922 the hoover company was the largest vacuum- cleaner manufacturer in the world, to the extent that ‘hoovering’ became synonymous with vacuuming.

The Real McCoy And 149 Other eponyms by Claire Cock-Starkey (The Bodleian Library, £9.99).