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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..... Hoi polloi
The common masses.
This term is of Greek origin and a literal translation
from the Greek οἱ πολλοί is ‘the many’. There are many
examples of it in print in its original Greek form, dating
back to the 17th century. The earliest known is a 1668
essay by John Dryden - Of dramatick poesie: “If by the
people you understand the multitude, the οἱ πολλοί”
Many believe that this term was adopted into English
by the American writer James Fenimore Cooper. He did
use ‘hoi polloi’ in his Gleanings from Europe in 1837, but
before then it was in common use by those whom we
might expect to have been familiar with classical Greek
- scholars of Oxford and Cambridge universities. For
instance, the various classes of degree of Cambridge’s
Mathematical Tripos were Wranglers and Senior and
Junior Optimes (what we would now call First, Second
and Third Class), followed by Hoi Polloi - also called
Poll Men or Polloi Men. The first record found of this
in print is from a listing of Cambridge degree awards in
The Times, 22nd January 1833.
There are two linguistic points of interest concerning
hoi polloi. The first is whether or not to precede it with
‘the’. Some argue that, since ‘hoi’ means ‘the’ in Greek,
then we should omit the article and just say ‘hoi polloi’.
Others argue that this is merely pedantic, not to say
inconsistent with other uses of articles inherited from
others languages; for example, alchemist, which comes
from the Arabic, where al means the - and yet no one
complains that the alchemist is incorrect.
The second point is that some believe hoi polloi to mean
‘the upper classes’; for example, this from the Chicago
Daily Herald, October 1984: “Brent Musburger, whose
talks with WGN are continuing, was among the hoi
polloi in the rich seats.”
This usage is possibly influenced by a mistaken
association with ‘hoity-toity’. This is defined as
pretentiously self-important, haughty or pompous.
Many dictionaries also give a second meaning, that is,
given to frivolity, silliness or riotousness, which was
the original meaning of this term, but has now almost
completely died out. Our view of what is hoity-toity
now is defined by the ‘looking down the nose’ manner
adopted by characters like Lady Bracknell, in Oscar
Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest.
These days we hardly expect to hear lager louts described
as hoity-toity. The two meanings of the term aren’t as far
apart as it might seem though and one seems to have
migrated from the other. The frivolousness/riotousness
meaning was first recorded in Sir Roger L’Estrange’s
1668 translation of The visions of Don Francisco de
Quevedo Villegas: “The Widows I observ’d ... Chanting
and Jigging to every Tune they heard, and all upon the
Hoyty-Toyty, like mad Wenches of Fifteen.”
The later meaning isn’t seen until around mid to late
18th century and is recorded in O’Keefe’s Fontainebleau
in 1784: “My mother ... was a fine lady, all upon the
hoity-toities, and so, good for nothing.”
As with many reduplicated phrases, one word carries an
existing meaning and the other is present for emphasis.
In this case the earlier meaning of the term came from
the word hoit. This is a now defunct verb meaning to
indulge in riotous, noisy mirth. That in turn was formed
from hoyden - a boorish clown or rude boisterous girl.
The change from one meaning to the other seems to
be due to the pronunciation of hoity as heighty and the
subsequent allusion to highness or haughtiness. Two
18th century dictionaries give intermediate forms:
B.E’s A new dictionary of the terms ancient and modern
of the canting crew, circa 1700 - “Hightetity, a Ramp or
Rude Girl.”
Francis Grose’s A classical of the vulgar tongue, 1785
“Heighty toity, a hoydon, or romping girl.”
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