Filibuster
What’s in a name?
When I am uncertain about the origin of a word, the ultimate authority is Walter William Skeat, an Anglican minister and Cambridge professor, who assembled the philological foundation for the Oxford English Dictionary.
FILIBUSTER: a pirate, freebooter. (Spanish — French — Dutch) First use 1587; — Spanish filibuster, a buccaneer, a freebooter. — French flibustier, spelt fribustier in 1667. Corrupted from Dutch vrijbuiter, a freebooter — Dutch vrijbuiten, to rob, plunder. — Dutch frij, free; buit, booty. The exact history is obscure; but in any case, the word is of Dutch origin.
In the 1800’s Filibuster referred to American adventurers who tried to assume power in a number of Latin American countries, without official sanction from the U. S. Government (one would hope!).
At any rate, our understanding of this word is of critical importance in the current political standoff: with a Senate divided 50:50 across party lines, and the Republican party’s insistence on obstructing any progressive legislation.
In particular, I am obliged to Mr. H. H. Wedgewood … and have taken several hints from him. In reconsidering the etymologies of the words which he treats, I have, in some cases, adopted his views either wholly or in part. In a few instances, he does not really contest what I have said, but notices something I have left unsaid … Hence, the number of points on which we differ is now considerably reduced; and I think a further reduction might have been made if he could have seen his way, in like manner, to adopting views from me. (Preface to the 2nd Edition, Skeat’s Etymological Dictionary of the English Language; Oxford University Press 1883)
