Where did the name?!


Question: Jolly Roger come from for the Pirate Flag


Answers: Jolly Roger come from for the Pirate Flag

The name "Jolly Roger" goes back at least to Charles Johnson's A General History of the Pyrates, published in 1724. Johnson specifically cites two pirates as having named their flag "Jolly Roger": Bartholomew Roberts in June, 1721[1] and Francis Spriggs in July, 1723. While Spriggs and Roberts used the same name for their flags, their flag designs were quite different, suggesting that already "Jolly Roger" was a generic term for black pirate flags rather than a name for any single specific design. Neither Spriggs' nor Roberts' Jolly Roger consisted of a skull and crossbones.

Richard Hawkins, captured by pirates in 1724, reported that the pirates had a black flag bearing the figure of a skeleton stabbing a heart with a spear, which they named "Jolly Roger". [2]

Another theory is that it comes from the French term "joli rouge", ("pretty red") which the English corrupted into "Jolly Roger" or simply "Hodge". While it is true that there were a series of "red flags" that were feared as much as, or more than, "black flags", this seems unlikely because the red flag was not adopted from the French and it is not likely that the black flag was either, and there is no primary source reference to the name "Joli Rouge" for any flag, piratical or otherwise. One theory is that when a ship was approached under false colors closely enough for the deception to be unnecessary any longer, the pirates would "run up the red flag", time to kill everyone.[citation needed]

Yet another theory states that "Jolly Roger" is an English corruption of "Ali Raja", the name of a Tamil pirate.[3]

And another theory is that it was taken from a nickname for the devil, "Old Roger". [3] The "jolly" appellation may be derived from the apparent grin of a skull.

One less popular theory comes from the privateer and royal governor of The Bahamas, Woodes Rogers. As a privateer he was famous for suppressing many pirates. After he became governor in 1717 however, he offered the "King's Pardon", which gave amnesty to most of the pirates in The Bahamas. This made him popular with pirates both as an enemy and ally. Furthermore, an old engraving of Rogers holding a boarding pike resembles the flag depicting a skeleton holding a spear.[citation needed]

Because he was laughing all the way to the Bank!

Many people associate a black flag featuring a skull and crossbones design with pirates, and many use the term “Jolly Roger” to refer to such a flag. Given that the pirate flag is not terribly jolly and it does not seem to involve anyone named Roger, many people wonder what the origins of the name are. As is often the case with popular folk terms, the meaning behind the Jolly Roger is somewhat obscure and uncertain, although several hypotheses for the name have been put forward.

Pirates have been plying the seas for centuries, typically attempting to capture ships with their crew and cargo intact. Many early pirates actually ran quite democratic ships, encouraging the crews of captured ships to join forces and merely imprisoning those who resisted until the next port of call. Pirates used flags to communicate their intentions to other ships, typically flying false colors until they got close enough to capture a ship. The Jolly Roger was flown to encourage a ship to surrender.

Pirates typically flew black flags, with a red flag indicating that the pirates would give no quarter to resisters. The use of bones on pirate flags dates back to at least the 1600s, and possibly earlier. Many cultures associate potent symbolism with bones, which are meant to remind people of their own mortality and failings. Numerous variations on the skull and crossbones designs were used by pirates, and by 1720s, several accounts referred to pirate flags as “Jolly Rogers.”

One theory behind the name is that it may be a corruption of the French jolie rouge, for “pretty red,” in a reference to the red flags flown by some pirates. However, historians do not see much evidence for the use of jolie rouge in reference to a pirate flag. Some theorists have also suggested that it may be an Anglicization of “Ali Raja,” an infamous Tamil pirate who terrorized the seas and presumably flew a black flag as well. Both of these folk etymologies derive the meaning of "Jolly Roger" backwards, trying to come up with old terms which could have been transmuted into a modern phrase.

Although both of these explanations are colorful, the real origins are probably more mundane. In England, “Roger” is closely related to “rogue,” and many people refer to the devil as Old Roger, or say that they are “rogering” someone when they are making trouble for them. Since pirates are associated with roguish behavior, naming their flag the Jolly Roger would have made sense, since rogues tend to be particularly jolly when they are making mischief, as pirates often are...

or

The Jolly Roger is the traditional flag of European and American pirates, envisioned today as a skull over crossed thigh bones on a black field. Various versions of the Jolly Roger existed over the course of the centuries, for example Calico Jack's Jolly Roger replaced the thigh bones with swords (Cutlasses).

Oda himself provided some info on the Jolly Roger, including three possible theorized origins that have come to be accepted by experts:

Some say it comes from the French term "Jolie Rogue" or "red Lovely" possibly referring to blood.
"Roger" may have come from the word "Rogue" meaning thief or villain.
It may have come from the term "Old Roger" an old fashioned name for the Devil.
The Jolly Roger is hugely recognized to mean "danger" worldwide. The skull and crossbones themselves are commonly used on to warn people about dangerous substances or places on signs and bottles.

duhhhhh
from the candy ..

The Jolly Roger is the traditional flag of European and American pirates, envisioned today as a skull over crossed thigh bones on a black field. Various versions of the Jolly Roger existed over the course of the centuries, for example Calico Jack's Jolly Roger replaced the thigh bones with swords (Cutlasses).

Oda himself provided some info on the Jolly Roger, including three possible theorized origins that have come to be accepted by experts:

Some say it comes from the French term "Jolie Rogue" or "red Lovely" possibly referring to blood.
"Roger" may have come from the word "Rogue" meaning thief or villain.

It may have come from the term "Old Roger" an old fashioned name for the Devil.

They often featured skeletons, daggers, cuttlasses, or bleeding hearts on white, red, or black fields. The skull and crossbones motif first appeared around 1700 when French pirate Emanuel Wynne hoisted his fearful ensign in the Caribbean -- embellished with an hourglass to show his prey that their time was running out.

The first time it was seen was in 1700, by the captain of Her Majesty’s Ship, which was attacked off the coast of Santiago, Cuba, by a French pirate named Emmanuel Wynne. The pirate ship displayed a black flag with a white skull, two crossbones and a sand glass, symbol of the little time remaining to the adversary to decide either to fight or surrender; or meaning that life is fleeting like sand. The skull and crossbones are the death symbol which was used by a few European armies during the XV century, before the pirates reused the idea.


The Jolly Roger expression, which designs the black flag by Anglo-Saxons sailors, is probably of French origin. Historians think that French buccaneers and pirates of the Caribbean Sea used to call their red flag ? Joli rouge ? with a lot of emphasize on the "e" of the word "rouge". This expression, used by Anglophones would have been deformed to "Jolly Roger", which would have been kept for the pirate’s black flag. Some pirated hoisted this flag to persuade a pursued ship to surrender without fighting. If the ship refused to stop, then the pirates would hoist their red flag to indicate that they would fight with no mercy.

Some great variations of the flag on the link.



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