chestnut [E16th] Chestnuts have nothing to do with chests—the ultimate source is the Greek word kastanea ‘chestnut’ (ultimate source also of the Spanish castanets [E17th], presumably from the shape). A frequently repeated joke or story is known as an old chestnut. First recorded in the 1880s, the phrase probably comes from a play called The Broken Sword, written by William Dimond in 1816. In one scene a character called Zavior is in the throes of telling a story: ‘When suddenly from the thick boughs of a cork tree—’. At this point he is interrupted by another character, Pablo, who says: ‘A chestnut, Captain, a chestnut … Captain, this is the twenty-seventh time I have heard you relate this story, and you invariably said, a chestnut, till now.’