SC - "Smalls" are not underwear in period

[Mark.S Harris]

Greetings,

I seem to have stirred up some discussion here on the use of SCA terms for
children by mentioning the current, now wanning firestorm on the Ansteorra
list. However, even in heated arguments sometimes good points get brought 
up. Such was this case, as Diarmuit pointed out in his message that I
was wrong in thinking the term "smalls" in period meant underwear. From this
message, I still think the term "smalls" shouldn't be used for children as
it was derogatory, but it apparently had nothing to do with clothing in
period.

I have pasted the message below. I now have permission from Berengaria, who
wrote the original article, and it may show up in the Florilegium in the
near future.

Stefan li Rous
stefan at texas.net
- ----------------------
> Subject: ANST - Smalls
> Date: Wed, 23 Jun 1999 06:21:01 MST
> From: "I. Marc Carlson" <LIB_IMC at centum.utulsa.edu>
> To:  ANSTEORRA at Ansteorra.ORG
> 
> >> As any red blooded Englishman knows, "smalls" are your underwear, not
> >>children....
> 
> If I may quote from an article in our local newsletter from last year:
> 
> Berengaria Ravencroft. "The Plain FAQS". _Nordic Saga_ (Nov. 1998)
> 
> ""Smalls" (also "Halflings") refers to children. Now it seems that this term is
> a serious point of contention since a myth has sprung up that the term "Smalls"
> is a contraction of "Small clothes" and so we are referring to our children as
> underwear. Now it is entirely true that "Smalls" is derived from "Smallclothes"
> and does mean "underwear" - but not until well into the 17th century. "Small"
> in the Middle Ages still referred to something that was inferior. "Halfling",
> it seems, also referred to children after 1794, and meant a stripling or
> something not fully grown. Some terms that were used in the Middle Ages are
> Arfname ("Heir", from Erf, cattle as inheritance, from the 10th through the
> 13th centuries), Congeon (a dwarf or halfwit, especially as applied to a child,
> from the 12th to the 15th centuries), Faunt (related to Infant, 14th century),
> Girl (referring to a child of either gender, from the 13th to the 15th
> centuries), Imp (a child, the term only became derogatory in the 1500s, from
> the 1300s on), and Minion (which can mean a Child, in the 1500s). To be sure,
> these aren't the only terms that were used. Child and Children were popular
> too. 
> 
> Not to get into a lengthy discussion about the other "SCAdian Jargon" terms
> that some people don't care for, these include: 
> Farspeaker = Telephone 
> Garb = Clothing 
> Autocrat = Person in charge of events ("Stewards", "Wardens") 
> Troll = Gate guards, or the toll takers 
> Newbie = A newcomer ("Comeling", "New Person") 
> Dragon, Fire Chariot = Automobile ("Vehicle", "Van", "Car", "Conveyance") 
> Mundane = Someone not affiliated with the SCA. 
> 
> Sources: 
> Dictionary of Early English. 
> Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition."
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