Twenty Phrases That Originated In The Middle Ages
Many of the Phrases we Casually Toss Around today have Surprisingly Long Histories, with roots that stretch back to the Medieval World. From English Law to Chaucer’s Poetry, from French Allegories to Irish Chronicles, these expressions reveal just how much of our everyday language was shaped by the Middle Ages.
Here Are 20 Phrases That Originated In The Middle Ages — And Are Still Alive And Well Today.
1. The Apple of One’s Eye
In early medieval England the pupil of the eye was known as the apple (Old English æppel) since it was thought to be an apple-shaped solid. Since the delicate pupil of the eye is essential for vision, it is a part that is cherished and to be protected. Thus apple of the eye was used as a figure for a much-loved person or thing. Even King Alfred the Great used this phrase.
2. Baker’s Dozen
This phrase arose from a piece of medieval legislation, the Assize of Bread and Ale of 1262. Bakers of the period had a reputation for selling underweight loaves, so legislation was put in place to make standardized weights. To make sure that they did not sell underweight bread, bakers started to give an extra piece of bread away with every loaf, and a thirteenth loaf with every dozen.
3. To Curry Favour
The phrase came from the Middle English words curry favel, which in Old French was estriller fauvel. It meant “to rub down or groom a chestnut horse.” In Le Roman de Fauvel, a 14th-century French romance, a chestnut horse representing hypocrisy and deceit is carefully combed down by other characters in order to win his favour and assistance. The popularity of the work led people to accuse those who tried to further their own ends by flattery to be currying favel. By the sixteenth century the phrase had changed slightly to currying favour.
4. To Play Devil’s Advocate
Devil’s advocate is a translation of the Latin advocatus diaboli. This was the popular title given to the official appointed by the Roman Catholic church to argue against the proposed canonization of a saint by bringing up all that was unfavourable to the claim. The post, which was officially known as Promoter of the Faith (promotor fidei), seems to have been established by Pope Leo X in the early sixteenth century.
5. To Throw Down The Gauntlet
The gauntlet was a piece of armour that knights wore to protect their forearms and hands. A gauntlet-wearing knight would challenge a fellow knight or enemy to a duel by throwing one of his gauntlets on the ground.
6. By Hook or By Crook
Records of this phrase date back to the 14th century. One theory for its origin suggests that a medieval law about collecting firewood allowed peasants to take what they could only cut from dead trees by using their reaper’s bill-hook or a shepherd’s crook.
7. Hue and Cry
This phrase dates back to 12th-century England. Hue comes from the Old French huer, which means “to shout out.” In the Middle Ages, if you saw a crime being committed, you were obliged to raise “hue” and “cry,” that is to shout and make noise, to warn the rest of the community, so they could come to pursue and capture the criminal.
8. A Nest Egg
By the fourteenth century the phrase nest egg was used by peasants to explain why they left one egg in the nest when collecting them from hens – it would encourage the chickens to continue laying eggs in the same nest. By the seventeenth century this phrase now meant to set aside a sum of money for the future.
9. A Ted-Letter Day
During the fifteenth century it became customary to mark all feast days and saints’ days in red on the ecclesiastical calendar, while other days were in black.
10. To sink or Swim
The phrase refers to the water ordeal, a medieval practice of judging whether a person was innocent or guilty by casting him or her into a lake. The belief was that water would not accept anyone who had rejected the water of baptism, so if the victim sank they were innocent, but if they floated they were guilty. Chaucer used a similar phrase: “Ye rekke not whether I flete (float) or sink.”
11. No Man’s Land
Many might think this phrase dates back to the First World War, but its origins are actually from the 11th century. In the Domesday Book there is a place in England that is referred to as “Nomansland.” Perhaps it was an abandoned settlement. Then the phrase can be seen again in the 14th century – it was used by Londoners to refer to a spot just north of the city walls where executions were held.
12. All That Glitters Is Not Gold
This phrase, meaning that appearances can be deceiving, has a rich history. Its earliest known usage comes from the 12th century, when French theologian Alain de Lille wrote, “Do not hold everything gold that shines like gold.” Geoffrey Chaucer later echoed the sentiment in his 14th-century work The House of Fame, with the line “Hyt is not al golde that glareth.”
13. Stark Raving Mad
This expression, used to describe someone who is completely and uncontrollably insane, has its roots in medieval England. The word “stark” comes from an Old English word meaning stiff or strong, and was commonly used in the Middle Ages to intensify descriptions. The term “stark mad” emerges by the 14th century. Meanwhile, the word “raving” originates from the Latin rabidus, meaning “to be mad” or “to rave.” It was also used as an adjective to emphasise a noun, so it would eventually become incorporated into the phrase.
14. More Irish Than The Irish Themselves
This expression dates back to medieval Ireland and was used to describe Norman settlers who embraced Irish customs, language, and traditions more enthusiastically than the native Irish. These Normans, who arrived in Ireland in the 12th century, integrated so deeply into Irish life that it worried the English authorities, prompting laws like the Statutes of Kilkenny in 1366 to try to maintain English identity. It’s a phrase that highlights how invaders can sometimes adopt the culture they encounter so thoroughly that they outdo the locals themselves.
15. Blood Is Thicker Than Water
The phrase is often interpreted to mean that family bonds are stronger than other relationships, but its origins suggest a different meaning. A 13th-century story includes the line: “ouch höer ich sagen, daz sippe bluot von wazzer niht verdirbet,” which translates to, “I also hear it said that kin-blood is not spoiled by water.” It has been suggested that this implies family ties are more important than religious affiliations, with “water” symbolising baptism.
16. Let Sleeping Dogs Lie
This phrase, meaning to avoid stirring up trouble or interfering in a situation that is calm, has roots in medieval England. It appears in Geoffrey Chaucer’s Troilus and Criseyde, where he writes, “It is nought good a sleping hound to wake.” There is even an earlier French version of this expression, which translates as “wake not the sleeping dog.”
17. Bed of Toses
One of the most popular pieces of medieval literature is Le Roman de la Rose. In one section, a character recounts a dream of touring a garden and finding a beautiful bed of roses by the Fountain of Love. The phrase, which later came to represent an easy or pleasant life, owes much to the rich imagery and associations with love and desire found in this iconic text.
18. Tom, Dick and Harry
This phrase is used to describe ordinary or generic people, often implying “anyone and everyone.” Its origin dates back to medieval Italy, where the term in Latin originally was Titius et Gaius et Sempronius. This phrase would get changed in other languages too, becoming in Italian “Tizio, Caio e Sempronio” and in French “Pierre, Paul ou Jacques.”
19. One Bad Apple Spoils The Whole Barrel
This phrase, meaning that one negative influence can ruin the whole, originates from the literal observation that one rotten apple can spoil others in a container. Geoffrey Chaucer hinted at this idea in his Canterbury Tales, particularly in The Cook’s Tale, where he wrote about how bad companions can corrupt good ones. Here is how he writes it:
Uppon a proverbe that seith this same worde: “Better ys rotten appulle out of an hurde Than for to let hem rote alle the remenaunte.”And ryght so it fareth by a ryotes servaunte.
20. In My Mind’s Eye
The phrase, meaning to envision something in one’s imagination, goes back to the late 12th century when Joachim of Flora wrote in Expositio in Apocalipsim (Exposition of the Book of Revelation) this line: “I suddenly perceived in my mind’s eye something of the fullness of this book and of the entire harmony of the Old and New Testaments.”
Chaucer also made use of the phrase. In The Man of Law’s Tale, he writes: “It were with thilke eyen of his mynde, With whiche men seen, after that they been blynde.”
These twenty phrases remind us how deeply the Middle Ages shaped the language we use every day. From Chaucer’s poetry to medieval law codes, from allegorical horses to Norman Ireland, the origins of these expressions reveal a world where words carried both practical and symbolic weight. Far from being relics of the past, they continue to live on in modern English, proving that medieval thought and culture still echo in our daily conversations.
All of these examples are drawn from the Dictionary of Idioms and their Origins, a resource that shows just how many of our familiar sayings have roots that stretch back centuries.
