英语词汇shill的起源、历史背景-英语词源词典

shill; shillibeer. London’s first buses were introduced from Paris by George Shillibeer (1797–1866) on July 4, 1829. His omnibuses, coaches carrying 22 passengers and pulled by three horses, immediately caught on in London and were being called “buses” within three years. Apparently, Shillibeer later went into the undertaking business, or at least a combined hearse and mourning coach was named the shillibeer after him. The word shill, for “a swindler’s assistant,” a “booster” hired to entice customers, may also derive from his name, especially considering that shills were and are still used to pack tourist buses in order to lure customers aboard. Shillibeer’s connec- tion with buses makes him a likely candidate, but there have been other suggestions. One is some notorious shill, probably a circus or carnival employee, surnamed Shillibeer. Another pos- sibility is the American humorist Benjamin Penhallow Shillaber (1814–90), who printed Mark Twain’s first work in his Carpet Bag, a weekly important in developing the new school of American humor. In 1847 Shillaber created the character Mrs. Partington, which he used in a number of books, beginning with his Life and Sayings of Mrs. Partington (1854). Critics charged Shillaber with lifting his character from English politi- cian and author Sydney Smith. The American admitted that he took the name from Smith’s allusion to the legendary Dame Partington, who had tried to sweep the flooding Atlantic Ocean out of her cottage and whom Smith had compared in an 1831 speech with the opposition of the House of Lords to reform. Although Shillaber denied using anything more than the Part- ington name for his gossiping Yankee Mrs. Malaprop, his own name came into some disrepute and may have become the ba- sis for shillaber and then shill.

词汇	shill
词源	shill; shillibeer. London’s first buses were introduced from Paris by George Shillibeer (1797–1866) on July 4, 1829. His omnibuses, coaches carrying 22 passengers and pulled by three horses, immediately caught on in London and were being called “buses” within three years. Apparently, Shillibeer later went into the undertaking business, or at least a combined hearse and mourning coach was named the shillibeer after him. The word shill, for “a swindler’s assistant,” a “booster” hired to entice customers, may also derive from his name, especially considering that shills were and are still used to pack tourist buses in order to lure customers aboard. Shillibeer’s connec- tion with buses makes him a likely candidate, but there have been other suggestions. One is some notorious shill, probably a circus or carnival employee, surnamed Shillibeer. Another pos- sibility is the American humorist Benjamin Penhallow Shillaber (1814–90), who printed Mark Twain’s first work in his Carpet Bag, a weekly important in developing the new school of American humor. In 1847 Shillaber created the character Mrs. Partington, which he used in a number of books, beginning with his Life and Sayings of Mrs. Partington (1854). Critics charged Shillaber with lifting his character from English politi- cian and author Sydney Smith. The American admitted that he took the name from Smith’s allusion to the legendary Dame Partington, who had tried to sweep the flooding Atlantic Ocean out of her cottage and whom Smith had compared in an 1831 speech with the opposition of the House of Lords to reform. Although Shillaber denied using anything more than the Part- ington name for his gossiping Yankee Mrs. Malaprop, his own name came into some disrepute and may have become the ba- sis for shillaber and then shill.
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