Who was the first butler?
QUESTION
Where does the word butler come from? Who was the first butler?
Alcoholic beverages were historically stored first in earthenware vessels, then later in wooden barrels, rather than in glass bottles; these containers would have been an important part of a household’s possessions. The care of these assets was therefore generally reserved for trusted slaves or sometimes freemen.
The earliest reference to a butler figure comes from the book of Genesis. chapter 40 tells how Joseph interpreted the dreams of two of the Pharaoh’s servants who had been imprisoned for offending their master; these were the baker and the ‘ shaqah’ (literally ‘to give to drink’), which is most often translated into English as ‘chief butler’ or ‘chief cup-bearer’.
in the medieval household, the butler was the yeoman servant in charge of the beer cellar and of the buttery, from where he served out the beer. Butler is derived from the old French
bouteillier, meaning ‘ the cup-bearer’ or ‘the one in charge of the bottles’.
This was in turn derived from boteille ‘wine vessel, bottle’.
Bottle and boteille are derived from the medieval latin terms buttis (meaning ‘a barrel’) and butticula, hence our word butt for a large wooden container for liquid. The original buttery then had nothing to do with butter, it was a service room in a large medieval house in which barrels, bottles, or butts of alcoholic drink were stored, and from which they were served into the Great hall, chosen by the butler.
over time the butler rose through the social ranks, to be in charge not only of the buttery, but also of the ewery (a room for ewers, table linen and towels) and the pantry, and later still he took over the cellarer’s duties of looking after the wine.
By the middle of the 19th century, he’d become the senior male servant of a household’s staff. Hilary Fancombe, Newmarket, Suffolk.
QUESTION Is Israel named after three gods — Isis + Ra + EL? And is Abraham an old name for Saturn?
ThrouGhouT Scripture, Yahweh, the God of the Jewish people, emphasises that he will tolerate no other gods but himself (e.g. as in the first of the Ten commandments — Exodus 20).
it is therefore inconceivable that israel, the name of his people, should be derived from three gods. in Exodus 32 it relates how Jacob (whose hebrew name means ‘deceiver’ or ‘supplanter’) had a lifechanging encounter with God, who wrestled with him and then changed his name to israel (Yisra El), meaning ‘he struggles with God’ or ‘God fights’.
Jacob’s grandfather also had a name change after a significant meeting with God. his original name, Abram, means ‘exalted father’, but after God promised that he was to become the father of many nations (Genesis 17), he changed his name to Abraham, meaning ‘father of a multitude’.
Attempts are often made to draw parallels and try to link Biblical characters and events to various mythological fables, but essentially there is no connection between Abraham and Saturn.
Roderick Taylor, Witney, Oxon.
QUESTION The song Green Fields Of France mentions the gravestone of a Private Willie McBride, aged 19 when he died in 1916. Was Willie McBride real?
PrivATE Willie McBride served with the inniskilling Fusiliers and lost his life on April 22, 1916. he was 21 when he was killed, one of so many irish men to have lost their lives in the Great War, but in song his memory is preserved.
records show there were eight soldiers named William McBride listed with the British Forces, and a further six listed as W. McBride who died in Belgium and France during World War i.
it is believed the William McBride buried in Authiulle is the one on whom the song the Green Fields of France is based. The song’s Scottish composer Eric Bogle confirmed it was one of the graves he sat beside, before writing the emotive words, though McBride was 21 when he perished, not 19 as the lyrics state. John Chapman, Member Guild Battlefield
Tour Guides, Halesowen, West Mids. ThE tune penned by folk singer Eric Bogle is actually called No Man’s land but is more commonly known as The Green Fields of France. For many, it is simply Willie McBride.
it tells of how Bogle, resting by a grave, begins to think about the young soldier lying there, about his death and, ultimately, about the horror and futility of war. Bogle claimed to have written the song in response to the anti- irish sentiment in Britain during the irA bombing campaign of the Seventies.
The song (as ‘ The Green Fields of France’) was a huge success for The Furey Brothers and Davey Arthur in the Eighties in ireland and beyond.
Willie McBride was one of four children, born to Joseph and lena McBride in the small Armagh village of lislea in 1897. Willie attended the crosskeys National School.
A cobbler by trade, McBride worked as an apprentice in Aitkens, cootehill. he then went to irvinestown for a short time before moving to work in Belfast.
Willie enlisted in the Army in Belfast in 1915. he served with the 9th Battalion of the royal inniskilling Fusiliers, which was formed in omagh in September 1914 and was known as ‘the Tyrones’.
Willie McBride was just one of the hundreds of thousands of young men killed during The Battle of the Somme.
Richard Lee, Corton, Suffolk.
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