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JACK (1),
a saucy fellow, sailor. (F.,—L.,—Gk.—Heb.)
The phrase 'thou Sire John' is in Chaucer, C. T. 14816; on which Tyrwhitt
remarks: 'I know not how it has happened, that in the principal modern
languages, John, or its equivalent, is a name of contempt, or at least of
slight. So the Italians use Gianni, from whence Zani; the Spaniards
Juan, as bobo Juan, a foolish John; the French Jean, with various additions; and
in English, when we call a man a John, we do not mean it as a title of honour.
Chaucer, in l. 3708, uses Jacke fool, as the Spaniards do bobo Juan; and I
suppose jack-ass has the same etymology.' 'Go fro the window,
Jacke fool, she said;' Chaucer, C. T. 3708. This M. E. Jacke is obviously
borrowed from the F. Jaques; but it is very remarkable that this common French
name is considered as an equivalent to the E. common name John, since it really
answers to Jacob.—Lat. Jacobus.—Gk. Ἰάκωβος.—Heb.
Ya'aqób,
Jacob; lit. one who seizes by the heel.—Heb. root 'áqab, to seize by the
heel, supplant. B. It is difficult to tell to what extent the
various senses of the word jack depend upon the name above. α. It
is, however, clearly to be traced in the phrase Jack o' the clock, Rich. II, v.
5. 60, where it means a figure which, in old clocks, used to strike upon the
bell. β. In a similar way, it seems to have been used to name
various implements which supplied the place of a boy or attendant, as in
boot-jack and in the jack which turns a spit in a kitchen. γ.
Similarly, it denoted the key of a virginal; Shak. Sonnet 128. δ.
Hence perhaps also a familiar name for the small bowl aimed at in the game of
bowls; Shak. Cymb. ii. I. 2. ε. And for a small pike (fish), as
distinct from a full-grown one. Der. Jack-o-lent = Jack of Lent, a
puppet thrown at in Lent, Merry Wives, iii. 3. 27; Jack-a-lantern = Jack o'
lantern, also called Jack-with-the-lantern, an ignis fatuus (see Todd's
Johnson); Jack-pudding, Milton, Defence of the People of England, c. I (R.),
compounded of Jack and pudding, just as a buffoon is called in French
Jean-pottage (John-pottage) and in German Hans-wurst (Jack-sausage);
Jack-an-apes, Tyndall's Works, p. 132, col. I. l. 11, put for Jack o'
apes, with
the insertion of n in imitation of the M. E. an (really equivalent to
on) and
for the avoiding of hiatus (see Morris, Hist. Outlines of Eng. Accidence, p.
195), so that the word meant 'a man who exhibited performing apes;' Jack-by-the-hedge, 'an herb that grows by the hedge side,' Kersey, ed. 1715;
jack-ass; and probably jack-daw, Pliny, b. x. c. 29 (and not a corruption of
chough-daw, as it has been desperately guessed to be): cf. O. F. jaquette,
'a proper name for a woman, a piannat, or megatapy' [magpie], Cot.
Also (probably) jack-screw, a screw for raising heavy weights. ¶ 1.
Thorpe, in his edit. of Ancient Laws, vol. i, Glossary, gives an A. S. ceac, a
sort of stocks or pillory (cf. Du. kaak, a pillory (Sewel), Dan. kag, a
whipping-post), and adds: 'our word jack, signifying several kinds of
engines and instruments, is probably derived from ceac, pronounced, as in later
times, chack.' In this guess I have no belief; there is no trace of
'chack,' and nothing to connect jack (not earlier than the 14th century) with A.
S. times. Add to this, that the A. S. word seems to have been ceác
(with long a), which would have given a later form cheek; cf. Du.
kaak, a
pillory, which is the cognate word. 2. There is, however, an A. S. ceac, a pitcher (Mark vii. 4), which would have given
chack or jack; this might
seem to account for jack (more commonly black-jack) in the sense of a sort of
leathern jug; but the jug really took its name from its likeness to a jack-boot;
see Jack (2). JACK
(2), a coat of mail, a
military coat worn over the coat of mail. (F.) 'Iakke of
defence, iak of fence, garment, Baltheus;' Prompt. Parv. p. 256, and note,
shewing that the word was in use as early as 1375. 'Iacke, harnesse,
iacq, iacque:' Palsgrave.—O. F. Jaque, 'James, also a Iack, or coat of
maile, and thence, a Iack for the body of an Irish grey-hound...put on him when
he is to coap' [with a wild boar]; Cot. Cf. Ital. giaco, a
coat-of-mail, Span. jaco, a soldier's jacket; also Du. jak, G. jacke, Swed.
jacka, a jacket, jerkin. β. Of obscure origin; it is even somewhat
doubtful whether it is of Romance or Teutonic origin, but the latter is hardly
probable. Most likely Ducange is right in assigning the origin of it
to the Jacquerie, or revolt of the peasantry nicknamed Jacques
Bonhomme, A. D.
1358. That is, it is from the O. F. name Jacques. See
Jack (1). Der. jack-et, q.v.; also jack-boots, boots worn as armour
for the legs, in the Spectator (Todd); black-jack (Nares, s.v. jack).
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