Chapter Satyrane to Scallop-Shell of S by Brewer's Readers Handbook

(Beaumont died 1616.)

Savile Row (London). So called from Dorothy Savile the great heiress, who became, by marriage, countess of Burlington and Cork. (See CLIFFORD STREET, p. 219.)

Saville , the friend of Doricourt. He saves lady Frances Touchwood from Courtall, and frustrates his infamous designs on the lady’s honour.— Mrs. Cowley: The Belle’s Stratagem (1780).

Saville (Lord), a young nobleman with Chiffinch (emissary of Charles II.). —Sir W. Scott: Peveril of the Peak (time, Charles II.).

Saviour of Rome. C. Marius was so called after the overthrow of the Cimbri, July 30, B. C. 101.

Saviour of the Nations. So the duke of Wellington was termed after the overthrow of Bonaparte (1769–1852).

Oh, Wellington…called “Saviour of the Nations!”

Byron: Don Juan, ix. 5 (1824).

Savoy (The), a precinct of the Strand (London), in which the Savoy Palace stood. So called from Peter earl of Savoy, uncle of queen Eleanor the wife of Henry III. Jean le Bon of France, when captive of the Black Prince, was lodged in the Savoy Palace (1356-59). The old palace was burnt down by the rebels under Wat Tyler in 1381. Henry VII. rebuilt it in 1505. St. Mary le Savoy, or the “Chapel of St. John,” still stands in the precinct.

Sawney, a corruption of Sandie, a contracted form of Alexander. Sawney means a Scotchman, as Taffy [David] a Welshman, John Bull an Englishman, cousin Michael a German, brother Jonathan a native of the United States of North America, Micaire a Frenchman, jean Baptist a French Canadian, Colin Tampon a Swiss, and so on.

Sawyer (Bob), a dissipated, struggling young medical practitioner, who tries to establish a practice at Bristol, but without success. Sam Weller calls him “Mr. Sawbones.”—Dickens: The Pickwick Papers (1836).

Saxifrage . So called from its virtues as a lithontriptic.

So saxifrage is good, and hart’s-tongue for the stone,
With agrimony, and that herb we call St. John.

Drayton: Polyolbion, xiii. (1613).

Saxon. Hidgen derives this word from the Latin saxum, “a stone.” This reminds one of Lloyd’s derivation of “Ireland,” “the land of Ire,” and Ducange’s “Saracen” from “Sarah, Abraham’s wife.” Of a similar character are “Albion” from albus, “white;” “Picts” from pictus, “painted;” “Devonshire” from Debon’s share; “Isle of Wight” from “Wihtgar, son of Cerdic;” “Britain” from Brutus, a descendant of Æneas; “Scotland” from skotos, “darkness;” “Gaul” (the French) from gallus, “a cock;” “Dublin,” from dub [ium] lin [teum], “questionable linen,” and so on.

(The Greek and Latin authors invented individuals as name-founders of almost every place.)

Men of that cowntree ben more lyghter and stronger on the see than other scommers or theeves of the see …and ben called Saxones, of saxum, a stone, for they ben as hard as stones.—Polycronicon, i. 26 (1357).