"merkin" 1682

[Laurence Horn]

At 7:44 PM -0500 1/17/08, Joel S. Berson wrote:
>But the unlucky Dog of a Carver sent them back again two chopping
>Girles with Merkins exposed. This enraged the Justice more, and the
>Sign was summoned before the wise Court, where they gravely
>determined (to keep the Girles from blushing) they should have Roses
>clapt upon their Merkins; which is the original of our new Proverb,
>Under the Rose a Merkin.

whence our national flower, the Amerkin beauty rose.

LH

>
>merkin sense 1.a = female pudendum.
>
>J.W.  A Letter from New-England Concerning their Customs, Manners,
>and Religion. [etc.]  London: Printed for Randolph Taylor near
>Stationers Hall, 1682.  Page 9.  [Accessible via EEBO.]
>
>The proverb is in, and only in, Whiting, "Early American Proverbs and
>Proverbial Phrases", p. 372; and Miller, "The New England Mind: From
>Colony to Province", p. 139 [according to Google Web, Books, and
>Scholar].  In ADS-L archives, no mention of "merkin and 1682".
>
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>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org