[ANSTHRLD] That question about profession-surnames a while back

[kevinkeary at aol.com]

I didn't save the original set of letters, but the challenge came from a college professor to name a surname that derived from a medieval or earlier profession, that today refers to something quite different.

The best I had come up with before this was Coward, which derives from cow-herd (as in one who herds cows) similarly to Shepard/shepherd.
But coward isn't a profession and hooker is.

-----Original Message-----
From: Serpentine Pursuivant <lochherald at gmail.com>
To: Heralds List, Kingdom of Ansteorra - SCA, Inc. <heralds at lists.ansteorra.org>
Sent: Wed, 17 Oct 2007 9:46 am
Subject: Re: [ANSTHRLD] That question about profession-surnames a while back




I have also found evidence to support your claim, though I cannot remember
where, but I can speak on the word "hooker."  The term "hooker" in today's
terms, as far as I am aware, comes from the Civil War General Joe Hooker who
hired prostitutes to keep his men "entertained."  They then were started to
be called Hooker's women and it was eventually shortened to hookers.  If
this is true (I learned it it in history class, so it *should* be), then our
connotation of hooker has no basis in period.

Brian
Serpentine Pursuivant


On 10/17/07, kevinkeary at aol.com <kevinkeary at aol.com> wrote:
>
>
>
> After finding this, I'm wondering if this was an inside joke I walked into
> by trying to answer it seriously.
> I find that "Hooker" possibly once referred to being a sheperd and is a
> reference to the sheperd's crooks.
>
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