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Beefeaters
Yeomen of the Guard in the royal household, appointed, in 1485,
by Henry VII., to form part of the royal train in banquets and other
grand occasions. The old theory was that the word means “an attendant
on the royal buffets,” Anglicised into buffeters or
buffeteers, and corrupted into Beefeaters; but Professor
Skeat says no such word as buffeter has yet been found in any
book; nor does buffetier exist in French.
A plausible reply to this objection is that the word may have got
corrupted almost ab initio in those unlettered days; and the
earliest quotation of “Beefeater,” already adduced, is above 150 years
from the institution of the force, and even then the allusions are
either satirical or humorous: as “Begone, yee greedy beefe-eaters, y'
are best” (Histriomastix, iii. 1; A.D. 1610); “Bows, or
Beefeaters, as the French were pleased to terme us” (1628); “You
beef-eater, you saucy cur” (1671). Not one of the quotations fixes the
word on the
Yeomen of the Guard, and that the English have been called Beefeaters
none will deny. Even if the allusion given above could be certainly
affixed to Yeomen of the Guard it would only prove that 150 or 160
years after their establishment in the palace they were so called
(corruptly, humorously or otherwise).
Arguments in favour of the old derivations:
(1) Certainly Henry VII. himself did not call these yeomen “beef-eaters.” He was as much French as Welsh, and must have been
familiar with the buffet (bu-fey); he had no spark of humour in
his constitution, and it is extremely doubtful whether beef was a
standing dish at the time, certainly it was not so in Wales. We have a
good number of menus extant of the period, but beef does not
appear in any of them.
(2) We have a host of similar corruptions in our language, as
Andrew Macs (q.v.), Billy-ruffians (see Bellerophon), Bull and
Mouth (q.v.), Charles's Wain (q.v.), Bag-o'-Nails, Goat and
Compasses,
Sparrow-grass (asparagus), ancient (ensign), lutestring
(lustring, from lustre), Dog-cheap (god-kepe, i.e. a
good bargain), and many more of the same sort.
(3) There can be no doubt that the “beefeaters” waited at the royal
table, for in 1602 we read that “the dishes were brought in by the
halberdiers [beefeaters], who are fine, big fellows” (quoted in
Notes and Queries, February 4th, 1893, p. 86).
(4) If beef was a general food in the sixteenth century, which is
extremely doubtful, it would be supremely ridiculous to call a few
yeomen “eaters of beef,” unless beef was restricted to them. In the
present Argentine Republic, beef dried, called “jerked beef,” is the
common diet, and it would be foolish indeed to restrict the phrase
“eaters of jerked beef” to some halfscore waiters at the President's
table.
(5) That the word buffeteer or buffetier is not to be
found (in the English sense) in any- French author, does not prove
that it was never used in Anglo-French. We have scores of perverted
French words, with English meanings, unrecognised by the French; for
example: encore, double entendre, surtout (a frock coat),
epergne, and so on.
(6) Historic etymology has its value, but, like all other general
rules, it requires to be narrowly watched, or it may not unfrequently
over-ride the truth. Historically, Rome comes from Romulus,
Scotland from Scota or Scotia, Britain from Brutus. All
sorts of rubbishy etymology belong to the historic craze.
Beefeaters.
Yeomen Extraordinary of the Guard appointed as warders of the Tower
by Edward VI. They wear the same costume as the Yeomen of the Guard
mentioned above. (See Buphagos.)
Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894 More on Beefeaters from Infoplease:
- Beefeaters - Beefeaters Beefeaters, popular name for the Yeomen of the Guard and for the warders of the Tower of ...
- beefeater: meaning and definitions - beefeater: Definition and Pronunciation
- Beefeaters - Beefeaters Yeomen of the Guard in the royal household, appointed, in 1485, by Henry VII., to form ...
- Yeomen of the Guard - Yeomen of the Guard Yeomen of the Guard, bodyguard, now ceremonial in function, of the sovereign of ...
- Tower of London - Tower of London Tower of London, ancient fortress in London, England, just east of the City and on ...
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