Ok here we go – from “I”.
IDLE HANDS - ‘The Devil finds work for idle hands’ – an old proverb (with several variants) generally means to keep busy so the Devil can’t get you into trouble!!
ISLAND - Devil’s Island is the name of one of three small islands off the coast of French Guiana. Therre is also a Devil’s Island in Torc Lough, Killarney.
Devil's Island - French Guiana
JUMPS - Devil’s Jumps is the given name to a Bronze Age barrow cemetery. Located 4 miles west of Midhurst, W Sussex, it consists of 5 large bell-barrows about 114 feet in diameter.
KINGDOM - The Devil’s Kingdom is said to be that stretch of beach/rocks between low and high tide.
LAPFUL - This appears to be a generic name for many cairns – a man-made, conical pile of stones, usually found on mountaintops or moorland.
LIAR - The Devil is not to be believed in anything he says. Even the Grimoires constantly warn that special precautions must be taken with conjured spirits to ensure they tell the truth.
LIMEKILN - Devil’s Limekiln is a sea cut chasm on the Isle of Lundy in the Bristol Channel.
LINCOLN CITY - ‘The Devil looking over Lincoln city’ seems to be a reference to a gargoyle on Lincoln Cathedral. The phrase was recorded by John Haywood in 1562, when said gargoyle probably existed (apparently it had a swollen stomach): ‘Then wold ye look ouer me with stomoke swolne like as the divel lookt puer Lincolne’.
LIVERY – The Devil’s livery is said to be black and yellow. Black for death and yellow for quarantine.
LUCK - The Devil’s luck is extrordinary good fortune.
MADNESS – The Devil has been said to drive a man mad before destroying him!!
MASS - A Devil’s mass means a tirade of swearing and abusive language.
MILL - Devil’s Mill is one of the falls of the River Devon, about a mile west-southwest of the Crook of Devon.
MISSIONARY - Voltaire, a French writer and satirist 1694 – 1778, remembered as a crusader of bigotty and tyranny, was called the ‘Devil’s Missionary’.
Voltaire at 24
MONK - see ’sick’.
MOTHER - Devil’s Mother is a mountain (2131 feet!!) in the northwest of Galway.
NOSTRILS - Two caverns or natural formations, separated by a pillar of rock, on the mainland of the Shetland Islands are known as the Devil’s Nostrils.
OLD DEVIL - The Devil is as old as mankind. Old Scratch is another name and said to be taken from the word ’scrat’. This was once used of a Teutonic demon or monster. Probably related to ’skrati’ which meant ’satyr’, and which has also been given as a derivation for Old Scratch.
OWN - The Devil’s Own was one of the nick-names given to the 88th Foot, the Connaught Rangers, apparently by General Picton after the bravery of the regiment in the 1809-14 Peninsular Campaign. The same name was applied to the now disbanded Inns of Court Regiment, once consisting of mainly lawyers and traditionally linked with diabolical names. See http://www.devils-own.co.uk/history.htm
PATERNOSTER - The phrase “to say the Devil’s paternoster” means to say the Devil’s prayer, which literally means to pray to the Devil himself, rather to Our Father (pater noster in Latin). A prayer such as this is often offered backwards .
PAY - ” The very Devil to pay” means a confused or difficult situation. However “the Devil to pay and no pitch hot” points to a state of unreadiness and is said to be derived from shipbuilding terminology. The word “to pay” means “to cover in pitch” and a “devil” was a seam in the ship’s outer boards which had to be made watertight/airtight with hot pitch. (Well I never knew that!!! :))
PIT - Devil’s Pit is a natural hollow near Cadgwith, W Cornwall, with a dept of about 205 ft.
PLAY – “To play the Devil” is to be angry. Can also be used to mean a real mess of something.
POINT - Devil’s Point is a rock in the Cairngorms. It is also the name used for the south eastern extremity of Cairn Toul in Aberdeenshire.
Devil's Point Cairngorms
PRAYER – The Devil’s Prayer is the Lords Prayer backwards. See PATERNOSTER
PULL - the phrase “to pull the Devil’ tail” or “to pull the Devil by the tail” is said to mean that one struggles constantly against adversity, mocking even the worst that the Devil can do.
PUNCHBOWL - The name Devil’s Punchbowl is used to denote several natural bowls in the British landscapes. The most famous is the Bronze Age round-barrow on the Isle of Wight. There is another one near Hindhead Hill, Haselmere, Surrey. Another deep lough, supposedly part of an extinct volcano, is near the summit of Mangeton, 4 miles east of Kenmare in Kerry.
Devil's Punchbowl, Hindhead (view from the north of Hindhead)
QUOITS – Three huge stones near Kennet in Wiltshire, are called the Devil’s Quoits or Coits as are three immense stones near Stanton Harcourt in Oxfordshire. See also Frying Pan.
RING - The Devil’s Ring is the name of a Bronze Age barrow cemetery at Brightwell Heath, about 5 miles east of Ipswich in Suffolk. The Devil’s Ring and Finger are two Neolithic stones (now part of a wall!!) 3 miles north west of Market Drayton in Shropshire.
Devil's Ring
ROPE - The Devil’s Rope is a reference to the proverb “give the Devil rope enough, and he will hang himself”. Someone who puts the Devil to shame is someone who does something good.
SHAME THE DEVIL - Someone who puts the Devil to shame, is someone who does something good. “Tell the truth and shame the Devil”.
SICK - The phrase “the Devil sick would be a monk” is a reference to the good intentions one has in times of adversity.
SNUFFBOX - The puffball fungus is called the “Devil’s Snuffbox”.
Devil's Snuffbox. Edible too apparently!!
SON OF THE DEVIL - A vicious or cruel person. The infamous Ezzelino, governor of the city of Vincenza in Italy in the thirteenth centuary , was called this.
SPOON - “He who sups with the Devil needs a long spoon”, means that someone who finds himsel in a difficult situation needs to be especially careful.
Ok, gonna leave it here for now. See you again soon
