- skip - Brewer’s

Patten

.

Martha or Patty, says Gay, was the daughter of a Lincolnshire farmer, with whom the village blacksmith fell in love. To save her from wet feet when she went to milk the cows, the village Mulciber invented a clog, mounted on iron, which he called patty, after his mistress. This pretty fable is of no literary value, as the word is the French patin (a high-heeled shoe or skate), from the Greek patein (to walk).

“The patten now supports each frugal dame,

Which from the blue-eyed Patty takes its name.”


Gay: Trivia, i.

 

previous entry · index · next entry

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

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

previous entry · index · next entry

Patrician
Patrick
Patrick’s Cave (St.)
Patrick’s Cross (St.)
Patrick’s Grave (St.)
Patrick’s Monument (St.)
Patrick’s Purgatory (St.)
Patrick and the Serpent (St.)
Patrico or Pater-cove
Patroclos
Patten
Pattens-Money (Chapins de la Reina)
Patter
Pattern
Pattieson (Mr. Peter)
Paul (St.)
Paul Pry
Paul and Virginia
Paul the Hermit (St.)
Paul of the Cross
Paul’s Man (A)