Early East India Company merchants and a rare word for sex
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Samuli Kaislaniemi
Abstract
The records of the British East India Company are an uncharted source for historical linguistics and lexicography. In particular, letters between Company employees stationed in the East Indies contain a large amount of colloquial language use. Among the more or less standardized reporting on business matters, there are discussions of all aspects of private life, such as food, drink and, occasionally, sex. This paper investigates a hapax legomenon in the correspondence of early East India Company merchants in Japan (1613–1623): the use of lapidable to mean ‘mature for sexual intercourse.’ The word is traced in Early and Late Modern English dictionaries and primary texts, and the paper ends with a discussion of East India Company merchants and creative language use.
Abstract
The records of the British East India Company are an uncharted source for historical linguistics and lexicography. In particular, letters between Company employees stationed in the East Indies contain a large amount of colloquial language use. Among the more or less standardized reporting on business matters, there are discussions of all aspects of private life, such as food, drink and, occasionally, sex. This paper investigates a hapax legomenon in the correspondence of early East India Company merchants in Japan (1613–1623): the use of lapidable to mean ‘mature for sexual intercourse.’ The word is traced in Early and Late Modern English dictionaries and primary texts, and the paper ends with a discussion of East India Company merchants and creative language use.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Tabula gratulatoria vii
- Preface ix
- Introduction xiii
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Part I. History of dictionaries
- The Flores of Ouide (1513) 3
- “Halles Lanfranke” and its most excellent and learned expositive table 17
- John Lane’s Verball 41
- The linking of lemma to gloss in Elyot’s Dictionary (1538) 55
- Music amidst the tumult 79
- Chaos and old night 91
- Online dictionaries of English slang 109
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Part II. Word history and cultural history
- Old English etymologies in Christfrid Ganander’s Nytt Finskt Lexicon (1787) 131
- The origin of the word yeoman 153
- Early East India Company merchants and a rare word for sex 169
- From denominal to deverbal 193
- A gente Anglorum appellatur 219
- William Lambarde and Thomas Milles in search of the golden past 233
- Contempt 249
- A lexical skirmish 269
- Index of subjects 287
- Index of personal names 291
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Tabula gratulatoria vii
- Preface ix
- Introduction xiii
-
Part I. History of dictionaries
- The Flores of Ouide (1513) 3
- “Halles Lanfranke” and its most excellent and learned expositive table 17
- John Lane’s Verball 41
- The linking of lemma to gloss in Elyot’s Dictionary (1538) 55
- Music amidst the tumult 79
- Chaos and old night 91
- Online dictionaries of English slang 109
-
Part II. Word history and cultural history
- Old English etymologies in Christfrid Ganander’s Nytt Finskt Lexicon (1787) 131
- The origin of the word yeoman 153
- Early East India Company merchants and a rare word for sex 169
- From denominal to deverbal 193
- A gente Anglorum appellatur 219
- William Lambarde and Thomas Milles in search of the golden past 233
- Contempt 249
- A lexical skirmish 269
- Index of subjects 287
- Index of personal names 291
