CHAPTER VTHE DISHONOURED HAND
An interesting discovery made in recent years in the course of some researches into the traces of the neolithic flint-workers of Norfolk invites attention from the evidence it has been thought to furnish of the traces of a left-handed workman of that remote era.
The Rev. William Greenwell carried out a series of explorations of a number of flint-pits, known as Grimes’s Graves, near Brandon, in Norfolk; and in a communication to the Ethnological Society of London on the subject, he states that in clearing out one of the primitive subterranean galleries excavated in the chalk by the British workmen of the Neolithic Age, in order to procure flint nodules in a condition best adapted for their purpose, it wasfound that, while the pits were still being worked, the roof of the gallery had given way and blocked up its whole width. The removal of this obstruction disclosed three recesses extending beyond the face of the chalk, at the end of the gallery, which had been excavated by the ancient miners in procuring the flint. In front of two of these recesses thus hollowed out lay two picks corresponding to others found in various parts of the shafts and galleries, made from the antlers of the red deer. But Canon Greenwell noted that, while the handle of each was laid towards the mouth of the gallery, the tines which formed the blades of the picks pointed towards each other, showing, as he conceived, that in all probability they had been used respectively by a right and a left-handed man. The day’s work over, the men had laid down their tools, ready for the next day’s work; meanwhile the roof had fallen in, and the picks were left there undisturbed through all the intervening centuries, till the reopening of the gallery in our own day.
The chronicles of the neolithic miners of Norfolk, as of the greatly more ancient flint-workers of the drift, or the draftsmen of the Dordogne, are recorded for us in very definite characters, moretrustworthy, but unfortunately as meagre as other early chronicles. But when we come within the range of written records, or analyse the evidence that language supplies among unlettered races, a flood of light is thrown on the subject of a discriminating choice in use of one or the other hand. The evidence derived from this source leaves no room for doubt that the preferential choice is no mere habit; but that everywhere, among barbarous and civilised races alike, one specific hand has been assigned for all actions requiring either unusual force or special delicacy.
Even among races in the rudest condition of savage life, such as the Australians and the Pacific Islanders, terms for “right,” the “right hand,” or approximate expressions show that the distinction is no product of civilisation. In the Kamilarai dialect of the Australians bordering on Hunter’s River and Lake Maquariamatarasignifies “hand,” but they have the termsturovn, right, on the right hand, andngorangón, on the left hand. In the Wiraturai dialect of the Wellington Valley the same ideas are expressed by the wordsbumalgálandmiraga, dextrorsum and sinistrorsum.
The idea lying at the root of our own decimalnotation, which has long since been noted by Lepsius, Donaldson, and other philologists, as the source of names of Greek and Latin numerals, is no less discernible in the rudest savage tongues. Among the South Australians the simple names for numerals are limited to two, viz.ryup, one, andpoliti, two; the two together express “three”;politi-politi, four; and then “five” is indicated by the termryup-murnangin,i.e.one hand; ten bypoliti-murnangin,i.e.two hands. The same idea is apparent in the dialects of Hawaii, Raratonga, Viti, and New Zealand, in the use of the one term:lima,rima,linga,ringa, etc., for hand and for the number five.Fuluand its equivalents stand for “ten,” apparently from the rootfu, whole, altogether; while the wordtau, which in the Hawaiian signifies “ready,” in the Tahitian “right, proper,” and in the New Zealand, “expert, dexterous,” is the common Polynesian term for the right hand. In the Vitian language, as spoken in various dialects throughout the Viti or Fiji Islands, the distinction is still more explicitly indicated. There is first the common termlinga, the hand, or arm; then the ceremonial termdaka, employed exclusively in speaking of that of a chief, but which, it may be presumed, alsoexpresses the right hand; as, while there is no other word for it, a distinct termsemais the left hand. The rootseis found not only in the Viti, but also in the Samoa, Tonga, Mangariva, and New Zealand dialects, signifying “to err, to mistake, to wander”;semo, unstable, unfixed; while there is the wordmatau, right, dexter, clearly proving the recognition of the distinction. In the case of the Viti or Fijian, this is the more noticeable, as there appears to be some reason for believing that left-handedness is exceptionally prevalent among the natives of the Fiji Islands. In 1876 a correspondent of theTimescommunicated a series of letters to that journal, in which he embodied anthropological notes on the Fijians, obtained both from his own observations during repeated visits to the Islands, and from conversation with English, American, and German settlers, at the port of call, and on the route between San Francisco and the Australian colonies. “The Fijians,” he says, “are quite equal in stature to white men; they are better developed relatively in the chest and arms than in the lower limbs; they are excellent swimmers, and, if trained, are good rowers. Left-handed men are more common among them than among white people; three were pointedout in one little village near the anchorage.” Yet here, as elsewhere, it is exceptional. Vague statements from time to time appear, affirming a prevalence of left-handedness among certain barbarous races. A writer in theMedical Recordin 1886 says: “No purely left-handed race has ever been discovered, although there seems to be a difference in different tribes. Seventy per cent of the inhabitants of the Punjab use the left hand by preference; and the greater number of the Hottentots and Bushmen of South Africa also use the left hand in preference to the right.” But such statements, to be of any value, must be based on carefully accumulated evidence, such as is scarcely accessible in relation to nomad savage tribes. Such comprehensive generalisations generally prove to have no better foundation than the exceptional and chance observations of a traveller. It is otherwise when the evidence is derived from language, or from the observation of traders or missionaries long resident among the people.
Throughout the widely scattered islands of the Pacific the recognition of native right-handedness as the normal usage is confirmed alike by trustworthy witnesses and by the definite evidence of language.The Samoan wordlima, hand, also signifying “five,” and the termslima maira, right hand, andlima woat, left hand, are used as the equivalents of our own mode of expression. But also the left hand islima tau-anga-vale, literally, the hand that takes hold foolishly. In the case of the Samoans, it may be added, as well as among the natives of New Britain and other of the Pacific islands, the favoured hand corresponds with our right hand. My informant, the Rev. George Brown, for fourteen years a missionary in Polynesia, states that the distinction of right and left hand is as marked as among Europeans; and left-handedness is altogether exceptional. In the Terawan language, which is spoken throughout the group of islands on the equator called the Kingsmill Archipelago, the termsataioredai, right, dexter, (entirely distinct fromrapa, good, right,) andmaan, left, sinister, are applied tobai, orpai, the hand, to denote the difference,e.g.te bai maan, the left hand, literally, the “dirty hand,” that which is not used in eating. The languages of the American continent furnish similar evidence of the recognition of the distinction among its hunter-tribes. In the Chippeway the word for “my right hand” isne-keche-neenj,ebeing the prenominal prefix, literally, “my great hand.” “My left hand” isne-nuh-munje-neenj-ne.Numunjis the same root as appears innuh-munj-e-doon, “I do not know;” and the idea obviously is “the uncertain or unreliable hand.” Again, in the Mohawk language, “the right hand” is expressed by the termji-ke-we-yen-den-dah-kon, fromke-we-yen-deh, literally, “I know how.”Jiis a particle conveying the idea ofside, and the terminationdah-konhas the meaning of “being accustomed to.” It is, therefore, the limb accustomed to act promptly, the dexterous organ.Ske-ne-kwa-dih, the left hand, literally means “the other side.”
Analogous terms are found alike in the languages of civilised and barbarous races, expressing the same inferiority of one hand in relation to the other which is indicated in the classicalsinistraas the subordinate of thedextra manus. The honourable significance of the right hand receives special prominence in the most sacred allusions of the Hebrew scriptures; and in mediæval art the right hand in benediction is a frequent symbol of the First Person of the Trinity. In the Anglo-Saxon version of the New Testament the equivalent terms appear asswythreandwynstre, as in Matthew vi. 3: “Sothlice thonne thu thinne aelmessan do, nyte thin wynstre hwaet do thin swythre;” “When thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth.” Again the distinction appears in a subsequent passage thus: “And he geset tha scep on hys swithran healfe, and tha tyccenu on hys wynstran healfe” (Matthew xxv. 34). Here the derivation ofswythrefromswyth, strong, powerful,swythra, a strong one, a dexterous man,swythre, the stronger, the right hand, is obvious enough. It is also used as an adjective, as in Matthew v. 30: “And gif thinswythre handthe aswice, aceorf hig of;” “And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off.” The derivation ofwynstreis less apparent, and can only be referred to its direct significance,se wynstra, the left. In the Greek we find the isolated ἀριστερός, ἀριστερά, left, ἡ ἀριστερά, the left hand. Whatever etymology we adopt for this word, the depreciatory comparison between the left and the more favoured δεξιά, or right hand, is obvious enough in the σκαιός, the left, the ill-omened, the unlucky; σκαιότης, left-handedness, awkwardness; like the Frenchgauche, awkward, clumsy, uncouth. The Greek had also the term derived from the left armas the shield-bearer; hence ἐπ’ ἀσπίδα, on the left or shield side.
The Gaelic has supplied to Lowland Scotland the termker, or carry-handed, in common use, derived fromlamh-chearr, the left hand. In the secondary meanings attached toker, or carry, it signifies awkward, devious; and in a moral sense is equivalent to the English use of the word “sinister.” To “gang the kar gate” is to go the left road,i.e.the wrong road, or the road to ruin. There is no separate word in the Gaelic for “right hand,” but it is calledlamh dheasandlamh ceart. Both words imply “proper, becoming, or right.”Ceartis the common term to express what is right, correct, or fitting, whereasdheasprimarily signifies the “south,” and is explained by the supposed practice of the Druid augur following the sun in his divinations. In this it will be seen to agree with the secondary meaning of the Hebrewyamin, and to present a common analogy with the corresponding Greek and Latin terms hereafter referred to.Deisal, a compound ofdheas, south, andiùl, a guide, a course, is commonly used as an adjective, to express a lucky or favourable occurrence. The “left hand” is variously styledlamh chli, the wily or cunninghand, andlamh cearr, orciotach.Cearris wrong, unlucky, andciotachis the equivalent ofsinister, formed from the specific name for the left hand,ciotag, Welshchwithig. According to Pliny,[5]“the Gauls, in their religious rites, contrary to the practice of the Romans, turned to the left.” An ancient Scottish tradition traces the surname of Kerr to the fact that the Dalriadic king, Kynach-Ker or Connchad Cearr, as he is called in theDuan Albanach, was left-handed; though the name is strongly suggestive of a term of reproach like that of the Saxon Ethelred, the Unready.
[5]Hist. Nat.lib. xxviii. c. 2.
[5]Hist. Nat.lib. xxviii. c. 2.
Milton in one of his Sonnets plays in sportive satire with the name of another left-handed Scot, “Colkitto, or Macdonnel, or Galasp.” The person referred to under the first name was the Earl of Antrim’s deputy, by whom the invasion of Scotland was attempted in 1644 on behalf of the Stuarts. The name is scarcely less strange in its genuine form of Alastair MacCholla-Chiotach; that is, Alexander, son of Coll, the left-handed. This was the elder Macdonnel, of Colonsay, who was noted for his ability to wield his claymore with equal dexterity in the left hand or the right; or, as one traditionaffirms, for his skill as a left-handed swordsman after the loss of his right hand; and hence his sobriquet of Colkittock, or Coll, the Left-handed. The term “carry” is frequently used in Scotland as one implying reproach or contempt. In some parts of the country, and especially in Lanarkshire, it is even regarded as an evil omen to meet a carry-handed person when setting out on a journey. Jamieson notes the interjectional phrasecar-shamye(Gaelicsgeamh-aim, to reproach) as in use in Kinross-shire in the favourite Scottish game of shinty, when an antagonist takes what is regarded as an undue advantage by using his club in the left hand.
All this, while indicating the exceptional character of left-handedness, clearly points to a habit of such frequent occurrence as to be familiarly present to every mind. But the exceptional skill, or dexterity, as it may be fitly called, which usually pertains to the left-handed operator is generally sufficient to redeem him from slight. The ancient Scottish game of golf, which is only a more refined and strictly regulated form of the rustic shinty, is one in which the implements are of necessity right-handed, and so subject the left-handed player to great disadvantage, unless he provides his ownspecial clubs. The links at Leith have long been famous as an arena for Scottish golfers. King Charles I. was engaged in a game of golf there when, in November 1641, a letter was delivered into his hands which gave him the first account of the Irish Rebellion. The same links were a favourite resort of his younger son, James II., while still Duke of York; and some curious traditions preserve the memory of his relish for the game. There, accordingly, golf is still played with keenest zest; and among its present practisers is a left-handed golfer, who, as usual with left-handed persons, is practically ambidextrous. He has accordingly provided himself with a double set of right and left drivers and irons; so that he can use either hand at pleasure according to the character of the ground, or the position of the ball, to the general discomfiture of his one-handed rivals. The Scotchmen of Montreal and Quebec have transplanted the old national game to Canadian soil; and the latter city has a beautiful course on the historical battle-field, the scene of Wolfe’s victory and death. Their experience induced the Quebec Golf Club, when ordering spare sets of implements for the use of occasional guests from Great Britain,to consider the propriety of providing a left-handed set. In the discussion to which the proposal gave rise, it was urged to be unnecessary, as a left-handed player generally has his own clubs with him; but finally the order was limited to two left-handed drivers, so that when a left-handed golfer joins them he has to put with his driver. This considerateness of the Quebec golfers was no doubt stimulated by the fact that there is a skilled golfer of the Montreal Club whose feats of dexterity as a left-handed player at times startle them. A Quebec golfer writes to me thus: “There is one left-handed fellow belonging to the Montreal Club who comes down occasionally to challenge us; and I have watched his queer play with a good deal of interest and astonishment.”
To the left-handed man his right hand is the less ready, the less dexterous, and the weaker member. But in all ordinary experience the idea of weakness, uncertainty, unreliability, attaches to the left hand, and so naturally leads to the tropical significance of “unreliable, untrustworthy,” in a moral sense. Both ideas are found alike in barbarous and classic language. An interesting example of the former occurs in Ovid’sFasti(iii. 869),where the poet speaks of the flight of Helle and her brother on the golden-fleeced ram; and describes her as grasping its horn “with her feeble left hand, when she made of herself a name for the waters,”i.e.by falling off and being drowned—
Utque fugam capiant, aries nitidissimus auroTraditur. Ille vehit per freta longa duos.Dicitur informa cornu tenuisse sinistraFemina, cum de se nomina fecit aquæ.
Utque fugam capiant, aries nitidissimus auroTraditur. Ille vehit per freta longa duos.Dicitur informa cornu tenuisse sinistraFemina, cum de se nomina fecit aquæ.
Utque fugam capiant, aries nitidissimus auroTraditur. Ille vehit per freta longa duos.Dicitur informa cornu tenuisse sinistraFemina, cum de se nomina fecit aquæ.
Utque fugam capiant, aries nitidissimus auro
Traditur. Ille vehit per freta longa duos.
Dicitur informa cornu tenuisse sinistra
Femina, cum de se nomina fecit aquæ.
In the depreciatory moral sense, Plautus in thePersa, (II. ii. 44) calls the left handfurtifica, “thievish.” “Estne hæc manus? Ubi illa altera est furtifica læva?” So in like manner the term in all its forms acquires a depreciatory significance, and is even applied to sinister looks. So far, then, as the evidence of language goes, the distinction of the right from the left hand, as the more reliable member, appears to be coeval with the earliest known use of language.