Compared to other countries in the world, the United States has the most prisoners, both in terms of total number of people incarcerated and in terms of the percentage of people being held in confinement. Private prisons hold about 8% of the prison population. Since prison is so popular in the United States, let’s look at the origins of some words associated with prison.
Prison:
The word “prison” first appears in English in the early twelfth century and was derived from the Old French “prisoun” meaning “captivity, imprisonment; prison; prisoner, captive.” The Vulgar Latin “preson” was altered by the influence of “pris” meaning “taken” when it was borrowed by Old French. The Vulgar Latin was based on the Latin “prensionem” meaning “a taking” which is from the past participle stem of “prehendere” meaning “to take.”
Clink:
The word “clink” as an informal term for “prison” came into English in the 1770s. There are a couple of possible origins of this term. First, it could have come from the sound made by the chains and/or metal locks used in prisons. On the other hand, the expression “to kiss the clink” meaning “to be imprisoned” was in use in the 1580s and may refer to the Clynke on Clink Street in Southwark, on the estate of the bishops of Winchester.
Slammer:
The United States slang term “slammer” for prison and/or jail came into English in 1952. By 1943 “slammer” was being used in the sense of someone who closed a door.
Yardbird:
The use of “yardbird” as an informal term for “convict” is relatively recent: 1956. During World War II it was armed forces slang meaning “basic trainee.”
Penitentiary:
The word “penitentiary” entered English in the early fifteenth century with the meaning of “place of punishment for offenses against the church” which comes from the Medieval Latin “peniteniaria” meaning “of penance.” The term “penitentiary house” meaning an asylum for prostitutes was in use by 1776 and this was shortened to “penitentiary” meaning “house of correction” in 1806. The slang term “pen” was first recorded in 1884.
Jail:
A jail is usually a local institution which holds inmates who have been arrested but not yet sentenced and those who were sentenced to one year of less. The word “jail” first entered English in the late thirteenth century as “gayhol” which was borrowed from the Old North French “gaiole” meaning “a cage, prison.” The Old North French “gaiole” came from the Late Latin word “caveola” which means “cage, enclosure, stall, coop.”
The British version “gaol” (also pronounced as though it were “jail”) is a persistence of the Norman roots of the word.
Up the River:
The phrase “up the river” meaning in prison is a United States slang term originating in 1891 with reference to Sing Sing prison which was up the Hudson River from New York City.
Warden:
The word “warden” came into English about 1200 meaning “one who guards” and had evolved into the meaning of “governor of a prison” by about 1300. The word stems from the Old North French “wardein” which came from the Proto-Germanic “*wardon” meaning “to watch, guard.”
Shown above is the warden’s office in the Old Montana Prison.
Calaboose:
The American English term “calaboose” dates to 1792 when it was borrowed from the Louisiana French “calabouse” which was taken from the Spanish “calabozo” meaning “dungeon” which probably came from the Vulgar Latin “*calafodium” which came from the Pre-Roman “cada” meaning “protected place, den.”
Brig:
The naval term “brig” meaning “jail” was first recorded in 1852 and comes from the colloquial shortening of “brigantine” in 1720. Brigantines were used as prison ships upon retiring from active duty.