Strange English:deadlights and ampytated?

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It looks deliberately written in broken English.
deadlights = head lights?
ampytated = amputated?

Context:

CHAPTER XI.

WHAT I HEARD IN THE APPLE BARREL.

"NO, NOT I," said Silver. "Flint was cap'n; I was quartermaster, along of my timber leg. The same broadside I lost my leg, old Pew lost his deadllghts. It was a master surgeon, him that ampytated me — out of college and all-Latin by the bucket, and what not; but he was hanged like a dog, and sun-dried like the rest, at Corso Castle. That was Roberts' men, that was, and comed of changing names to their ships — Royal Fortune and so on. Now, what a ship was christened, so let her stay, I says. So it was with the Cassandra, as brought us all safe home from Malabar, after England took the Viceroy of the Indies; so it was with the old Walrus, Flint's old ship, as I've seen a-muck witb the red blood and fit to sink with gold."

More:
http://www.kellscraft.com/treasureislandch11.html

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Type: Question • Score: 5 • Views: 1,999 • Replies: 34

View best answer, chosen by oristarA

@oristarA,

Yea Ori quite so

http://onelook.com/?w=deadllght&ls=a

0 Replies

@oristarA,

oristarA wrote:

It looks deliberately written in broken English.

Robert Louis Stevenson's 19th century version of 18th Century English sailor's speech; possibly as authentic as the way they talk in "Pirates Of The Caribbean".

deadlights = eyes
ampytated = amputated

0 Replies

@oristarA,

oristarA wrote:

It looks deliberately written in broken English.

I think so. Sailor/pirate vernacular, or at least an attempt to appear as such.

oristarA wrote:

ampytated = amputated?

Yes.

oristarA wrote:

deadlights = head lights?

Not likely. But I'm not sure what it is supposed to be slang for.

The word in the text seems to be deadllghts, not deadlights.

Maybe it is supposed to be deadlights, but maybe not.

I'm sure someone will be along with the answer.

1 Reply

@oralloy,

oralloy wrote:

Not likely. But I'm not sure what it is supposed to be slang for.

The word in the text seems to be deadllghts, not deadlights.

Maybe it is supposed to be deadlights, but maybe not.

I'm sure someone will be along with the answer.

Somebody already was; the extract is from a book practically every British child of my generation was given to read, "Treasure Island" by Robert Louis Stevenson. The word is definitely "deadlights"; the word shown in the linked text is either a typo or OCR error; it is used to mean "eyes"; the character who lost these is elsewhere called "Blind Pew"; the word originally meant " a thick pane of glass set in a ship's hull or deck to admit light". It was a conceit among writers going back to at least Smollett that sailors talked about everything in nautical terms, e.g. referring to peoples bodies as if they were ships hulls.

2 Replies

@contrex,

Actually a book practically every German child of my generation read (in German).

And the English terms are translated very similar to the original: deadlights become in German "Gucker" ...

0 Replies

@contrex,

contrex wrote:

Somebody already was;

I saw. But when I posted, I was not aware that others had answered. I imagine you've earned the prize ribbon for the correct answer.

I read Treasure Island too, but I've since forgotten every bit of it.

contrex wrote:

The word is definitely "deadlights"; it is used to mean "eyes"; the character who lost these is elsewhere called "Blind Pew";

Makes sense. I just knew it couldn't have been headlights.

1 Reply

@oralloy,

oralloy wrote:

when I posted, I was not aware that others had answered.

Don't you read the answers before posting?

0 Replies

Cool.
But there's still a mile to go:

1) Does "out of college and all-Latin by the bucket" mean "just graduated from college and when he practised the amputation for me, the language he talked to me was all Latin"?

2) Does "but he was hanged like a dog" mean "but such a master surgeon was still hanged like a dog"?

3) Does " That was Roberts' men, that was, and comed of changing names to their ships" mean "That were Roberts' men, that were (what does "that were" mean here then?), and came the event of changing names for their ships"?

2 Replies

@oristarA,

oristarA wrote:

1) Does "out of college and all-Latin by the bucket" mean "just graduated from college and when he practised the amputation for me, the language he talked to me was all Latin"?

"Out of college" just means "had been to college". Unlike modern times, in the time of the action a ship's surgeon was not necessarily an educated man, or even a qualified doctor, so the fact of the surgeon's having attended college was noteworthy. Educated medical persons used Latin terminology frequently. Note: the word "surgeon" is just a traditional nautical term for "doctor" and does not imply that he was a specialist in the modern sense, although that skill would have been frequently called for in battle.

Quote:

2) Does "but he was hanged like a dog" mean "but such a master surgeon was still hanged like a dog"?

Yes. He was part of the crew of a pirate ship. Pirates captured by naval forces were executed.

Quote:

3) Does " That was Roberts' men, that was, and comed of changing names to their ships" mean "That were Roberts' men, that were (what does "that were" mean here then?), and came the event of changing names for their ships"?

That was [Those were] Roberts' men, that was, [those were (repetition)][the rest who were hanged] and [their fate] comed of [was caused by] changing names to their ships...

Sailor were famously superstitious, and changing the name of a ship was considered to bring bad luck.

2 Replies

The more common nautical use of the term deadlights is a heavy wooden cover places over windows in anticipation of combat. When a text about ships says that "deadlights were shipped" it means that such heavy wooden covers were placed over windows, usually the stern gallery of the captain's cabin.

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@oristarA,

Some additional information:

Bartholomew Roberts was an infamous pirate in real life. This would be who he was referring to when he spoke of "Roberts' men".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bartholomew_Roberts

0 Replies

@contrex,

contrex wrote:

oristarA wrote:

1) Does "out of college and all-Latin by the bucket" mean "just graduated from college and when he practised the amputation for me, the language he talked to me was all Latin"?

"Out of college" just means "had been to college". Unlike modern times, in the time of the action a ship's surgeon was not necessarily an educated man, or even a qualified doctor, so the fact of the surgeon's having attended college was noteworthy. Educated medical persons used Latin terminology frequently. Note: the word "surgeon" is just a traditional nautical term for "doctor" and does not imply that he was a specialist in the modern sense, although that skill would have been frequently called for in battle.

Quote:
2) Does "but he was hanged like a dog" mean "but such a master surgeon was still hanged like a dog"?

Yes. He was part of the crew of a pirate ship. Pirates captured by naval forces were executed.

Quote:
3) Does " That was Roberts' men, that was, and comed of changing names to their ships" mean "That were Roberts' men, that were (what does "that were" mean here then?), and came the event of changing names for their ships"?

That was [Those were] Roberts' men, that was, [those were (repetition)][the rest who were hanged] and [their fate] comed of [was caused by] changing names to their ships...

Sailor were famously superstitious, and changing the name of a ship was considered to bring bad luck.

Thanks.
But the meaning of "by the bucket" is still puzzling.

1 Reply

@oristarA,

oristarA wrote:

But the meaning of "by the bucket" is still puzzling.

contrex wrote:

Educated medical persons used Latin terminology frequently.

That's Latin in a large quantity - like if something is sold by piece or by the bucket

2 Replies

@Walter Hinteler,

A deadlight is a small window which doesn't open: a fixed porthole, if you like, or a thick piece of glass let into a deck to offer some illumination beneath.

Hence, a nautical term for an eye.

(thinks.....an eye or an eyelet, on board ship, means something else again.)

0 Replies

@Walter Hinteler,

Walter Hinteler wrote:

oristarA wrote:
But the meaning of "by the bucket" is still puzzling.

contrex wrote:
Educated medical persons used Latin terminology frequently.

That's Latin in a large quantity - like if something is sold by piece or by the bucket

Did you mean "by the bucket" refers to "in a large quantity"?

0 Replies

@contrex,

contrex wrote:

That was [Those were] Roberts' men, that was, [those were (repetition)][the rest who were hanged] and [their fate] comed of [was caused by] changing names to their ships...

Sailor were famously superstitious, and changing the name of a ship was considered to bring bad luck.

Quote:

That was Roberts' men, that was, and comed of changing names to their ships — Royal Fortune and so on.

Royal Fortune is the original name of one of their ships? Or they changed its original name (the author didn't tell us) into the name Royal Fortune?

1 Reply

@oristarA,

oristarA wrote:

Royal Fortune is the original name of one of their ships? Or they changed its original name (the author didn't tell us) into the name Royal Fortune?

In 1720 Roberts and his men captured a French ship and changed her name to the Good Fortune, and later again to the Royal Fortune, This was the first of several ships to be thus named by him.

1 Reply

@contrex,

contrex wrote:

oristarA wrote:
Royal Fortune is the original name of one of their ships? Or they changed its original name (the author didn't tell us) into the name Royal Fortune?

In 1720 Roberts and his men captured a French ship and changed her name to the Good Fortune, and later again to the Royal Fortune, This was the first of several ships to be thus named by him.

Are you talking about history? Or is it just fictional?

2 Replies

@oristarA,

oristarA wrote:

Are you talking about history? Or is it just fictional?

That's history though mentioned in Stevenson's Treasure Island. Why don't you believe contrex?

0 Replies

Strange English:deadlights and ampytated?

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