Chels

There are positives and negatives to watching Bridgerton as a family. The negative, of course, is sitting together to watch some of the spicier scenes. The positive, though, is that I love to chat about the shows I’m watching. I love to talk about theories (who is Lady Whistledown? How will Benedict and Sophie be able to marry?). I love to talk about our favourite scenes and our favourite characters. 

The other day, my dad asked why so many of the men in Bridgerton are referred to as rakes. Specifically, he asked if men get called rakes because women get called hoes. I was pretty sure that wasn’t the case, and that the garden tool connection was merely a coincidence, but I still didn’t know the answer. 

I love etymology (I was very disappointed as a young teenager that one cannot get a degree in etymology, and that etymologist isn’t a job title), so this week I’m investigating the language of the Ton, and where some regency colloquialisms originate from.

Rake

Rake, as it turns out, doesn’t have anything to do with gardening. The term is a shortening of ‘rakehell’, from the Middle English rakel. In turn, rakel likely comes from the Old English racian, meaning to go forward, to hasten. It’s suspected that ‘rascal’ has similar roots. It’s been around since at least the 1550s, however, ‘to rake Hell’ has been identified from the 1540s, so perhaps the two are connected.

And, to settle the question of the connection, hoe (or ho) has a much later origin. It comes from an alternative pronunciation of whore in non-rhotic dialects. Specifically, it comes from AAVE, a dialect which tends to drop R sounds. While it’s suspected that the slang developed around the mid-20th century, AAVE is predominantly an oral dialect, so the term may have developed much earlier than it was recorded. Whore comes from the Middle English hore, meaning prostitute or harlot, and was established in the 1560s, around the same time as rake. 

Dalliance

Quite often in Bridgerton, Anthony and Benedict’s past relationships have been referred to as dalliances. Context clues suggest the term is similar to fling or the very modern situationship, but the term actually comes from conversation. There are two different meanings for dalliance – the earliest being ‘spiritual conversation’. The word comes from dally, which, again, initially referred to speaking seriously, which became speaking intimately, and then to waste time or to flirt. This development all happened in the 14th to 16th centuries, so by the era Bridgerton is set in, there was likely a stronger association with flirtation and timewasting rather than intimacy, though the shifting meanings encompass the casual intimacy involved in dalliances. The word is likely of Anglo-French origin, as is often the case for words popular within the upper class – French is associated with the upper class and English with the working class (it’s why animals have names of English origin like pig and cow, but their meat products, beef and pork, come from French).

Spinster

Eloise often identifies herself as a spinster. It’s a relatively simple etymology – it comes from the verb spin, to turn fibres into thread. It is less the language of the term that is interesting, and more the legal definition. Unmarried women were referred to as spinsters because from around the 1600s, they were expected to be literal spinsters, to occupy themselves with threadmaking. The Century Dictionary specifies that being a spinster was a role for ‘a Viscount’s daughter onwards’, so, by the expectations of the time, Eloise would have been expected to work as a spinster, as the unmarried daughter of a Viscount. Interestingly, Bridgerton portrays the family as much wealthier than perhaps a Viscount (with eight dependants) would be – none of the children work, aside from taking care of the estate. Perhaps Eloise would have enjoyed real spinsterhood. Though, by the 18th century, spinster was more commonly used for women unmarried by the expected age, and not necessarily based on their occupation.

The Shelf

Another term proudly used by Eloise to self-describe, the shelf refers to, as you would expect, the thing you use to store or display your belongings. The earliest use of ‘the shelf’ as slang comes from the 1500s and referred to unemployment. To be made redundant or made to retire was to be put on the shelf. The phrase shifted meaning and by the 1800s, it came to refer to a woman with no marriage prospects. Later in the 1800s, the term would broaden again to refer to anything out of use – to put an idea on the shelf for later, perhaps.

The Ton

Finally, the Ton itself. A lot of people think that the Ton is just a quirky way of referring to the town, and I’ve seen some say it’s a reference to the ending of many family names in Bridgerton – the Bridgertons, the Featheringtons, and the Livingstons, but it actually comes from French (as all high society words tend to). The Ton comes from the French le bon ton (sometimes bon-ton), meaning the good tone, or fashionable. It essentially translated (though not literally) to high society. To be part of the Ton, high society, one was expected to have good manners and good breeding, and to follow the latest fashions. Of all the terms in Bridgerton, the Ton was the one I least expected to have a real life historical origin.

The problem with early language is that the further back in time you go, the fewer documents survive. And while language experts are incredibly thorough in their research, and incredibly clever, etymology is one field where we can’t always be 100% certain. Take my explanations with a grain of salt – who knows if perhaps racian (to hasten) came from the desire to tend the land quickly, in which case rake may actually have the same origin as the garden tool, or perhaps the shelf referred to some long lost ceremonial object which was shelved on the acceptance that a young lady would not marry. Neither of these are very likely at all, and the etymologists are almost certainly correct.