ジョン万次郎の伝記、Heart of a Samuraiの中に出てきた "
lashing with the cat" を先日取り上げた後に、昨日のブログで猫の額の区民農園に触れた時に「猫の額」にそっくりな英語の表現を思い出しました。
"
No room to swing a cat" と言うこの表現を知ったのは多分半年位に読んだWORLD WIDE WORDS E-MAGAZINE
の記事ですが、その時の記事はメモしていないので、"
No room to swing a cat" の意味と例文を改めてネット検索しました。
・
Phrase Finder: An awkwardly small, confined space
Origin: Whether the '
cat' was a real moggy or the flail-like whip used to punish sailors in the British Navy isn't clear. Many reports claim that the cat in question is the '
cat o'nine tails'. As so often though, they don't supply evidence, just certainty. As a candidate for folk etymology goes the '
cat o' nine tails' story has it all - plausibility, a strong storyline and a nautical origin. That's enough to convince many people - the actual evidence shows the theory to be highly dubious. The phrase itself dates from at least the 17th century. Richard Kephale's Medela Pestilentiae, 1665:
"They had
not space enough (according to the vulgar saying) to
swing a Cat in."
The nature of that citation makes it clear that the phrase was already in use prior to it being committed to paper. The '
cat o' nine tails' isn't recorded until 1695 though, in William Congreve's Love for Love:
"If you should give such language at sea, you'd have a
cat-o'-nine-tails laid cross your shoulders."
If those dates are in fact the earliest uses then the '
cat o' nine tails' theory is wrong. The task for anyone who wants to claim that theory correct is to pre-date those citations.
"
No room to swing a cat" の "cat" が "
lash with the cat" の "cat" と同じ、つまり、"
cat-o'-nine-tails" だという説はもっともらしいのですが、
Phrase Finderは誤りとしています。
引用すると長くなるので全文は引用しませんが
The Word Detective（http://www.word-detective.com/back-h2.html#swingacat）は '
cat o' nine tails' 説の他に、猫の尻尾を掴んで振り回す場所がないという、猫嫌いだった（猫に飼っていた小鳥を何度が殺されたので）私ならしかねない、文字通りの意味だという説もあります。
The other, less cat-friendly theory is that the phrase refers to literally swinging a cat around by its tail. This version seems to have quite a bit more evidence in its favor, the phrase having come into use in the mid-17th century and being used with clear reference to actual cats ever since, including in Charles Dickens' "David Copperfield."
（The Word DetectiveのHere Kitty, Kittyよりの抜粋）
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