Who was Davy Jones of Davy Jones' Locker fame?

Kainantu

Davey Jones' Locker = the bottom of the ocean! 'Was there a real Davey Jones? That's a question linguists have pondered since 18th-century sailors started using the name for the evil spirit of the sea or the deadly depths of the ocean. Some claim the original Davey Jones was a British pirate, but there's no evidence such a person actually existed. Others swear he was a London pub owner who kept drugged ale in a special locker, served it to the unwary, then had them shanghaied to sea. But the theory considered most plausible is that the 'Davey' in 'Davey Jones' Locker' was inspired by St. David, the patron saint of Wales, who was often invoked by Welsh sailors. The 'Jones' is traced to Jonah, the Biblical figure who was swallowed by a whale.' http://dusk.geo.orst.edu/djl/djl.html Jul 21 02, 11:32 AM

Jack Flash

According to Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable: Davy Jones is an 18th century sailor's term for the evil spirit of the sea. Of the many conjectures as to its derivation the most plausible are that Davy is a corruption of the West Indian duppy (devil) and that Jones is a corruption of Jonah, or that Davy Jones was a pirate. Jul 21 02, 2:01 PM

Friar Tuck

The first clear reference comes from Tobias Smollett, who wrote in The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle in 1751 that: 'This same Davy Jones, according to the mythology of sailors, is the fiend that presides over all the evil spirits of the deep, and is often seen in various shapes, perching among the rigging on the eve of hurricanes, ship-wrecks, and other disasters to which sea-faring life is exposed, warning the devoted wretch of death and woe'. So his locker is the bottom of the sea, the ocean's depths. - http://www.quinion.com/words/qa/qa-dav1.htm Jul 21 02, 10:05 PM

Friar Tuck

Slightly different to Jack Flash's reply - Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable offers an interesting linguistic take on the issue: Davy is a bastardization of Duffy, the West Indian term for ghost. Jones comes from Jonah, the prophet who spent a few uncomfortable days lodged in the GI tract of a whale. And a locker, loosely defined, is a place to store valuable things. So the phrase 'He's gone to Davy Jones' locker' (i.e., he cashed it in) loosely translates as 'He's safe with Duffy Jonah now.' Jul 21 02, 10:20 PM

Senior Moments

Davy Jones and His Locker American Sailors would rather not talk about Davy Jones and his infamous locker. They are ready enough to refer to him and his dwelling place, but just leave him an indefinite, unbodied character who keeps to his place at the bottom of the sea. Pressed, they will profess that they do not know what he looks like, his locker is to them something like an ordinary sea chest or coffin, always open to catch any sailor unfortunate enough to find himself in the sea. Some English sailors incline to the belief that his name is a corruption of Duffer Jones, a clumsy fellow who frequently found himself overboard. The only time Davy comes to life is in the ceremony of crossing the line. Then he is usually impersonated by the smallest sailor on board, given a hump, horns and a tail, and his features made as ugly as possible. He is swinish, dressed in rags and seaweed, and shambles along in the wake of the sea king, Neptune, playing evil tricks upon his fellow sailors. Old sailors, rather than speak of the devil, called him Deva, Davy or Taffy, the thief of the evil {spirit;} and Jones is from Jonah, whose locker was the whale's belly. Jonah was often called Jonas, and as Davy Jones, the enemy of all living sailors, he has become the mariners' evil angel. To be cast into the sea and sink is to fall into his locker and have the lid popped down on one. It is generally agreed that the Christian sailor's body goes to Davy Jones's locker, but his soul, if he is a proper sailorman, goes to Fiddlers' Green. From the book A Sailor's Treasury by Frank Shay - http://www.sgaus.org/hist_fac.htm Jul 21 02, 10:22 PM

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