[Ads-l] limerick (poem) etymology, again

[Stephen Goranson]

Last week, the Oxford Etymologist blog by Anatoly Liberman discussed Bob
Turvey's limerick books. His book Why are Limericks Called Limericks?
includes interesting information but no proposed etymology. I sent in a
comment, responding to the blog's invitation to offer a proposed origin,
twice. Neither was printed by the moderator, even after contacting admin.
This week the blog included this: " In commenting on the history of
*limerick* (see the previous post), Stephen Goranson pointed out that
during the Civil War in the US, the phrase *come to Limerick* meant “get to
the point, come to terms,” in connection with *the Treaty of Limerick
<https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100106952>*
(1691).
This is a most welcome reference. Search the Internet for THE TREATY OF
LIMERICK."

That indeed includes part of my comment--but only part.
Here is (was?) my comment, with one typo corrected. I'll submit it again
today.
~~~

It's welcome to see this blog again..
Though Bob Turvey is indeed a fine scholar of the English nonsense poems
eventually called Limericks, as well as a composer of Limericks, I suggest
a different reason and  location for the origin of that name.

During the U.S. Civil War the phrase "come to Limerick" meant get to the
point, settle the matter, come to terms. This is recorded in the Historical
Dictionary of American Slang as well as in subsequent finds. It was a
reference back to The Treaty of Limerick of 1691, which settled, or
attempted to settle, that previous Civil War.

Details are available in the University of Pennsylvania's Language Log blog
post titled "Limerick Poems and Civil Wars," available online.

The transition from "settle" into a game contest--create a new Limerick or
cry uncle--is signaled by a recent find by Jonathan Lighter
in The Bulletin, Norwich, Conn., Nov. 8, 1866.
"ROW ON THE PROVIDENCE ROAD. - On the old Providence pike Tuesday night Pat
McNamara was wending his weary way homeward, when in passing the suburban
residence of Pat Divine it came over him that he had an old grudge against
Pat and to express his opinion of him, he commenced a "Limerick song." As
Divine...comes up from Limerick, this made him mad, and he went out and
expressed his opinion to that bloody boy McNamara....McNamara was found
guilty of a breach of peace and was fined $2 and costs."

Also, at an Oxford University ceremony in 1881, the British and Irish did
not understand why the Bishop of Limerick, Charles Graves, when given an
honorary degree, was greeted by the audience with a Limerick song--probably
because only the visiting American and Canadian students knew it.
Even though I was born in England. I say that the English verse form got
its Irish name in America.

Stephen Goranson

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