Fingers

The old names for the fingers are:—

Thumb (Anglo-Saxon thuma).

Towcher (the finger that touches), foreman, or pointer. This was called by the Anglo-Saxons the scite-finger, i.e. the shooting finger.

Long-man or long finger.

Lech-man or ring-finger. The former means “medical finger,” and the latter is a Roman expression, “digitus annulaʹris.” Called by the Anglo-Saxons the gold-finger.

Little-man or little finger. Called by the Anglo-Saxons the eár-finger.

Fingers. Ben Jonson says—

“The thumb, in chiromancy, we give to Venus;

The fore-finger to Jove; the midst to Saturn;

The ring to Sol; the least to Mercury”

Alchemist, i. 2.

His fingers are all thumbs. Said of a person awkward in the use of his hands. Ce soni les deux doigts de la main.

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.

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