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Summer
is almost here in the northern hemisphere, heralding lazy afternoons in
the back yard hammock. Where did the word hammock come
from? The English language borrowed it from the Needless to say, neither the word nor hammocks themselves were known to Europeans until Columbus set foot in the New World, but the English soon learned of these unusual beds:
One early report gets a couple of points wrong:
Good quality modern hammocks may be made of cotton but the cotton plant was unknown in the Americas until it was introduced from Asia. Also, we see by the term brasill beds that the Elizabethans were rather vague about the geography of all those new lands across the ocean. The original spelling, and variants of it, persisted for a few centuries…
Saylers, who..get forthwith into their beds (or hamackoes). (1638) but by 1657 it had begun to be pronounced as it is today: Lye down and rest them in their Hamocks. The spelling could still be quite creative, though: It cannot be so convenient as a Hammaque. (1675) By the 17th century, hammocks had become a standard feature of life on board the ships of the Royal Navy. So much so, in fact, that on occasion they were even used as shrouds: Orders were..given for sewing him up in a hamacoe, in order to bury him. (1761) A sailor’s life was incredibly hard in those days but, even so, they were not denied the solace of the fairer sex. Surprising as it may seem to us today, women were allowed allowed on board and could share a hammock with a sailor. This gave rise to the expression show a leg, Now used figuratively to mean “get out of bed”, this phrase used to be taken literally. The boatswain would bellow this command and if a shapely female limb appeared its owner was allowed to stay abed. One shudders to think what awful fate befell a common mariner who dared show his hairy gam. |
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Last Updated 06/17/02 01:54 PM