QUESTION Who is credited with the invention of tinsel?
Decorative tinsel was probably invented in Germany. However, the word tinsel has been known in the English language since the 15th century. This referred to a material made of satin or silk into which gold threads had been woven.
In 1502, for instance, Elizabeth of York, the wife of Henry VII, bought ‘blake tynselle saten… for an edge of a gowne of blake velvet’.
The word tinsel is thought to be derived from an old French word, estincele, meaning ‘sparkle’, via the Latin scintilla, ‘spark’.
Despite Christmas miscellanies often stating that decorative tinsel, made of silver, had been created in Nuremberg from 1610, there is no particular evidence for this. Silver wouldn’t make a good material for tinsel: it’s expensive and would tarnish easily.
Images of Christmas trees from the mid-19th century, such as those issued by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, who had a strong German connection, have candles and tin decorations, but tinsel is conspicuous by its absence.
It was only in the 1890s that trees began to be adorned with an early form of tinsel known as lametta. These were long strands resembling very thin tinfoil, which were draped in large quantities over the branches of the Christmas tree, creating a glittering effect that mimicked the twinkling of an icicle.
The name is derived from the Italian diminutive of lama, which means ‘metal leaf’.
Decorative tinsel was probably invented in Germany . However, the word tinsel has been known in the English language since the 15th century. File image
The word tinsel is thought to be derived from an old French word, estincele, meaning ‘sparkle’. File image
The precise inventor is not known but a German connection seems probable, as with many Christmas traditions. The Eppsteiner Stanniolfabrik factory, near Frankfurt, was nationally famous for rolling
aluminium (stanniol) and tin into thin sheets for specialist uses, and in 1904 the company (which still exists today under the name Eppsteinfoils) obtained an imperial patent for the manufacture of lamettas.
Tinsel caught on and, since the 1970s, cheap tinsel made from PVC (a lightweight, shiny plastic) has been commercially available.
Leah Collingwood, Ipswich, Suffolk
QUESTION Which country has the smallest standing army?
The smallest and oldest standing army is the Pontifical Swiss Guard in Vatican City, which was created in its current form in 1506 and has 135 active guards. Swiss Guardsmen must be single, Catholic men over 5ft 8.5in tall.
The Swiss Guard is a unique force whose primary function is as bodyguard to the Pope. A better bet might therefore be the Antigua and Barbuda Defence Force (ABDF), an army consisting of about 250 active personnel. The ABDF has responsibility for roles such as internal security, prevention of drug smuggling and search and rescue.
Iceland maintains no standing army and is the only Nato member without one.
J. B. Robbins, Plymouth, Devon
The smallest and oldest standing army is the Pontifical Swiss Guard in Vatican City
QUESTION Who first dubbed strikebreakers ‘scabs’?
This highly emotive term was first used in print on July 5, 1777, in Bonner & Middleton’s Bristol Journal: ‘To the Public. Whereas the Master Cordwainers have gloried, that there has been a Demur amongst the Men’s and Women’s Men; — we have the Pleasure to inform them, that Matters are amicably settled… The Conflict would not been so sharp had not there been so many dirty Scabs…’
A cordwainer is a shoemaker who makes new shoes from leather.
The Articles of the Friendly and United Society of Cordwainers, June 4, 1792, further explained: ‘Some of the Articles make mention of scabs. And what is a scab?… In short, he is a traitor on a small scale. He first sells the journeymen, and is himself afterwards sold in his turn by the masters, till at last he is despised by both and deserted by all. He is an enemy to himself, to the present age and to posterity.’
The word scab comes from the Old Norse skabb, defined as the crust that forms over a wound, or an itch; by the late 1500s it had become an insult, meaning a lowlife.
In the sense of crossing a picket line, the term was used in the 1770s to describe both someone who refused to join a union and a strikebreaker. The latter meaning came to dominate.
Socialist author Jack London’s excoriating poem Ode To A Scab (c. 1915) summed up sentiments towards strikebreakers. It began:
‘After God had finished the rattlesnake, the toad, and the vampire, He had some awful substance left with which He made a scab. A scab is a two-legged animal with a corkscrew soul, a waterlogged brain, and a combination backbone made of jelly and glue.’
A. J. Priest, Nottingham
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