10 Phrases that Originated in the Middle Ages

Some of our most popular phrases have a long history, including some that go back to the Middle Ages. Here are 10 medieval phrases from the Dictionary of Idioms and their Origins.

We also wanted to let you know about these phrases:

To call a spade a spade

The ancient Greeks had popular proverb for plain speaking: “to call figs figs, and a tub a tub. However, when the scholar Erasmus created his Adagia, a collection of Greek and Latin proverbs, he mistook the Greek word spade for tub. In his version, it was written ‘to call a spade spade’ and it became popular ever since.

To pay through the nose

One theory has this phrase dating back to Anglo-Saxon times, The Vikings were said to have imposed heavy taxes on the people, and if one did not pay it they suffered the punishment of having their nose slit. However, this phrase was not used until the 17th century, which makes its medieval origins to be unlikely.

You can read more about them, and hundreds of others, in Dictionary of Idioms and their Origins, by Linda and Roger Flavell. Click here to see the book on Amazon.com