Boycott 1880

Hello Readers,

Every wonder where the word "boycott" came from?

The word boycott entered the English language during the Irish "Land War" and is derived from the name of Captain Charles Boycott, the land agent of an absentee landlord, Lord Erne, who lived in Lough Mask House, near Ballinrobe in County Mayo, Ireland, who was subject to social ostracism organized by the Irish Land League in 1880. As harvests had been poor that year, Lord Erne offered his tenants a ten percent reduction in their rents. In September of that year, protesting tenants demanded a twenty five percent reduction, which Lord Erne refused. Boycott then attempted to evict eleven tenants from the land.

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It is fascinating to me how history and the people involved at the time of said events, gives us words common to our own time period. I often wonder if Mr. Boycott realized how far reaching his actions would be and that present day people would use his name as a common household word.

Interesting history,

Donna