chief
April 22, 2000, 2:34am
1
anyone know the origin of the term “bootlegs”?
Check out my site:Chief’s Domain
just a guess- smuggled items (like bootleg whiskey) were hidden in bootlegs?
Frome http://www.britannica.com
bootlegging
in U.S. history, illegal traffic in liquor in violation of legislative restrictions on its manufacture, sale, or transportation. The word apparently came into general use in the Midwest in the 1880s to denote the practice of concealing flasks of illicit liquor in boot tops when going to trade with Indians. The term became part of the American vocabulary when the Eighteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution effected the national prohibition of alcohol from 1920 until its repeal in 1933.
the word “freebooter” however, comes from the Dutch ‘vrijbuiter ’ meaning ‘free plunderer’ from the words ‘vrij ’ (free) and ‘buit ’ (‘bounty’). Buit is also the origin of the English ‘booty.’