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A section for all you budding etymologists where each week the origin of a word or phrase is investigated.
This week it is..... To kowtow to
To accept the authority of another; to act in a subservient
manner.
The meaning of ‘to kowtow to’ is familiar to many, but
few know how the expression originated. ‘Kowtow’
(and, in case you’ve not come across it before, kowtow
is pronounced to rhyme with ‘cow’ + ‘how’) is an odd
word and, for no better reason than the sound of it,
many think it might have something to do with cows.
Apparently not.
‘Kowtow’ sounds odd to our ears because it is a Chinese
word. To kowtow is to kneel and touch the ground
with the forehead as an act of worship or submission.
The practice first came to the attention of the Englishspeaking world late in the 18th century, when westerners
began to visit China. The word is an Anglicised version
of the Chinese ‘kētóu’, which derives from ‘kē’ (knock’)+
‘tóu’ (head).
The British explorer Sir John Barrow was well placed
to observe kowtowing at first hand. In 1792 he was
appointed as an aide to Viscount Macartney, the British
ambassador in Peking. Barrow subsequently wrote
Travels in China, 1804, in which he was the first to
explain kowtowing to the west:
The Chinese were determined they should be kept in
the constant practice of the koo-too, or ceremony of
genuflexion and prostration.
There were several degrees of kowtowing, depending
on the difference in rank of the participants, the highest
level requiring a full face down prostrate pose with arms
held wide.
Macartney was given his £15,000 a year job as
ambassador to head a trade mission to negotiate a deal
between Britain and China. In 1793 he was presented to
Emperor Qianlong, or ‘son of heaven’ as he preferred to
be called, but the viscount pointedly refused to perform
the obligatory kowtow. To the disbelief of the aghast
Chinese court, Macartney would only go down on one
knee, as he would to the British ruler. This event was
recorded by the satirical cartoonist Gillray. Qianlong
left in a huff, the trade mission was abandoned and
Macartney was sacked.
Prices in the UK have increased about 500 times since
1793. Macartney might have felt that he had retained his
dignity but, had he known it was going to cost him a £7.5
million a year job, he might have thought that a quick
kowtow would have been prudent.
Is there an English phrase or saying that you would
like to know more about?
Email it to us on submissions@awolonline.net
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