Burning Questions

A: I was tempted to relate this name to Goodramgate in York. This street takes its name from a Viking called Guthrum and the word gate means street. Names of this nature would usually occur in the historic centre of a Northern town and many of the street names in Darlington town centre include the word gate, which usually indicates Danish-Viking influence. There is no place called Outram, as far as I know, but there is an English surname Outram, which derives from an Old German name, Uthrum. The name has probably existed in England since Anglo-Saxon times, although it is not recorded until 1493. It is easy to assume that Outram Street has the same sort of antiquity as Goodramgate, but this is not the case. Outram Street is located in an area that was open land before the 19th Century. Lord Barnard and the Vane family of Raby Castle, who were Dukes of Cleveland, owned this land and many of the street names in the area are named in their honour. These include Barnard Street, Raby Terrace, Raby Street, Duke Street, Cleveland Avenue and Vane Terrace. It is often the case that neighbouring streets follow the same theme, so I was going to conclude that Outram Street probably took its name from a person called Outram with a family connection to the Dukes of Cleveland. However, I can say with some certainty that it is named after James Outram (1803-1863),a British general who served in the Sikh and Afghan wars. He commanded the Persian campaign of 1857 and, during the Indian mutiny of that year, he helped Henry Havelock to raise the siege of Lucknow. Field Marshall Robert Cornelius, the first Baron Napier, was knighted for his services during the siege and since Outram Street is adjoined by Napier Street, it seems reasonable to assume that the two streets are named after these two prominent military men.

Q: I BELIEVE that the word cigarette means a small cigar, so how did a cigarette come to be known as a fag and how did a cigar get its name? - E Reynolds, Wheatley Hill.

A: THE word cigar is thought to come from the Spanish cigarra, meaning cicada, because rolled up tobacco leaves were thought to resemble the body of a cicada insect. The word developed in the West Indies. There is an alternative view that the word cigar comes from cigarral, a kind of Spanish pleasure garden. However, this word seems to be of Arabic origin and originally meant little house. It is said that tobacco gardens and nurseries in Cuba are sometimes called cigarrals. You are correct that cigarette means small cigar but fag is a British word that seems to have originated in the word fag-end, used only for the remnants or butt-ends of a cigarette. This developed from an older word fag, meaning used up, useless or burnt out and is possibly related to the word flag, as in "I am so tired, I am starting to flag". Over time, the word fag-end was assumed to mean the remnants of a fag, so that fag came to be regarded as a cigarette. The ultimate origin of all these words is uncertain although they are possibly related to flagellate and flagellum, which derived from a Latin word meaning to whip.

If you have a Burning Question, or can improve on any of the answers above, please write to Burning Questions, The Northern Echo, Priestgate, Darlington, DL1 1NF or e-mail David.Simpson@nne.co.uk

Published: Monday, July 2, 2001>