IMAGE CREDIT: ladiesagain.com
So I was going through my timeline on twitter reviewing updates from my circle and I stumbled upon a news headline from an online network which had the phrase; “caught red-handed”. The headline was a story about a grown man in Connecticut, in an Italian Restaurant at the Shoppes in Buckland Hills, caught shoving his hands down a four year Old’s pants. As much as I was appalled and disgusted with the pedophilic act and hoped the man be put away for a very long time, I just couldn’t ignore the phrase; ‘caught red-handed’.
Overtime certain expressions have become part of our day-to-day conversations that it is almost impossible to determine whether such phrases are colloquial means of indigenous communication or are globally recognized expressions, with traceable origins. The curious part of me went off to research the phrase and here’s what I found;
Meaning
To be caught in the act of committing a misdemeanor, with the evidence there for all to see.
Origin
The Red Hand has long been a heraldic and cultural symbol of the northern Irish province of Ulster.
One of the many myths as to its origin is the tale of how, in a boat race in which the first to touch the shore of Ulster was to become the province’s ruler, one contestant guaranteed his win by cutting off his hand and throwing it to the shore ahead of his rivals. The potency of the symbol remains and is used in the Ulster flag, and as recently as the 1970s a group of Ulster loyalist paramilitaries named themselves the Red Hand Commandos.
Reports have suggested that the term ‘Red-handed’ doesn’t have a mythical origin however, it is a straightforward allusion to having blood on one’s hands after the execution of a murder or a poaching session. The term originates from Scotland, and an earlier form of ‘red-handed’, simply ‘red hand’, dates back to a usage in the Scottish Acts of Parliament of James I, 1432.
Red-hand appeared in print many times in Scottish legal proceedings from the 15th century onward; for example, this piece from Sir George Mackenzie’s A discourse upon the laws and customs of Scotland in matters criminal, 1674:
“If he be not taken red-hand the sheriff cannot proceed against him.”
The earliest known printed version of ‘red-handed’ is from Sir Walter Scott’s Ivanhoe, 1819:
“I did but tie one fellow, who was taken red-handed and in the fact, to the horns of a wild stag.”
Scott was an avid student of Scottish history and folklore, which he relentlessly mined for inspiration in his novel writing. He is certain to have heard ‘redhand’ before writing Ivanhoe, nevertheless, the enormous popularity of his books certainly brought ‘red-handed’ to a wide audience and, without him, the term might now be long forgotten.
16th and 17th century Scottish sources provide various examples of ‘apprehended redhand’, ‘taken with redhand’ etc. but the earliest known citation of the currently used ‘caught red-handed’ phrase is in the English novelist George Alfred Lawrence’s work Guy Livingstone; or, ‘Thorough’, 1857:
“My companion picked up the object; and we had just time to make out that it was a bell-handle and name-plate, when the pursuers came up – six or seven “peelers” and specials, with a ruck of men and boys. We were collared on the instant. The fact of the property being found in our possession constituted a ‘flagrans delictum’ – we were caught “red-handed.”
It subsequently popped up numerous times in various legal proceedings in Scotland, nearly always referring to someone caught in the act of committing some crime, such as “apprehended redhand” or “taken with redhand”.
So there you have it! What other phrases, terms or expressions have you heard that has left you curious about its origin? Feel free to share and join the conversation!
Till next time, stay safe, enjoy the countdown to the weekend and please, don’t do what I wouldn’t do or risk being ‘caught red-handed’ lol!
Toodles!
Foot note: Origin & meaning of phrase ‘caught red-handed’ culled from; www.phrases.org.uk & Daven Hiskey’s (mentalfloss.com)
