Robin, I mentioned the search for a derivation for skivvy to Joanna and she
replied:
The Compact OED (and why they call it that is 'obscure' to me, since I need
both hands to lift it and even then I'm struggling) gives, apart from rather
a lot on the basic verbal meaning, which is to do with shaving leather
apparently, two rather interesting subdivisions. One, a verbal derivative
'to skive', meaning 'to move lightly and quickly, to dart', is
Northamptonshire dialect and occurs in print dated 1854. (Used of curlews,
the flight apparently similar to the movement of the leather-shaving tool.)
The other is an adjective, 'skivie', Scottish but (again!) of obscure
derivation, though the rubric refers us to ON 'skeifr', meaning 'askew'. No
date given as such, but Sir Walter Scott used it. It means 'harebrained,
mentally deranged'.
Either of these two meanings could possibly have connection to 'skivvy' in
the Edwardian sense of 'scullerymaid' (note sex!). They were often very
young girls, hired for cheapness to do the rough and dirty working,
scrubbing and so on, and so would move quickly - at least at first! My own
grandmother was sent away from home to just such a position just after 1890,
aged around 9 or 10 - her mother couldn't remember her exact age. Granny
used to call herself a skivvy when she talked about it afterwards, but of
course she could have been using a newer word for the same thing.
The 'mentally deranged' angle is as likely here. Dull repetitive tasks
within their capabilities, bed and board, and the housekeeper to ensure they
didn't get up to mischief, i.e. breeding and passing on the 'bad blood' - it
would have been seen as charitable, and never mind the conditions. In fact,
when adult they'd be more useful than the children, being stronger.
Don't know if this is of help? or at least of interest? It is so infuriating
not to know these things. You rotten lot - I've been perfectly happy all my
life not having thought to wonder, and now it's like a stone in my shoe. Let
me know if anyone comes up with anything more feasible, or even correct.
Roger
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