Q My dictionary defines “pork barrel” as a federal project or appropriation for the benefit of local constituents. I would like to know where the expression originated and how it came to be associated with something less than noble. – H.C., Whiting, N.J.

A: The use of “pork barrel” to describe federal appropriations of public moneys probably originated in the South. During Reconstruction, “pork” was popular slang for “Federal funds used by politicians as patronage” and was used to describe the rampant graft in the post-Civil War South. By 1879, the word in this sense was appearing in print.

The development of the related sense of “pork barrel” does not seem to have occurred till the early 20th century. It appears to have been originally tied to a River and Harbor bill which was regarded as a patronage sop thrown to greedy constituencies in return for surrender of absolute control of rivers and harbors to the Federal machinery.

In 1950, the same bill, now called the Army Civil Functions appropriation bill, is reported to have sponsored 275 projects – doled out, apparently, not as equitably as some critics would have like.

“Pork barrel” has older uses, dating back to the early 19th century. Its earliest sense, as you might guess, was literal, denoting a barrel in which pork was stored.

It acquired a figurative use as early as 1863, when it had come to mean “a supply of money or the source of one’s livelihood.” It is likely that this figurative sense combined with the sense of “pork” mentioned above to produce the term as used disparagingly by politicians and pundits today.

Q I know that a “canopic jar” is what the ancient Egyptians used to hold the internal organs of mummies. But does the word “canopic” have a meaning by itself? – A.F., Bozeman, Mont.

A: We don’t see it in other contexts very often, but, yes, “canopic” does have meaning independent of its use in “canopic jar.” It is derived from the name of Canopus, a city in ancient Egypt on the west coast of the Nile River delta. “Canopic” is used as an adjective meaning “of or relating to Canopus,” as in “the Canopic branch of the Nile.”

This meaning is at the root of the term “canopic jar,” which came about because of some devotional jars found at Canopus. The god Osiris was worshipped there in the form of human-headed vessels which archaeologists referred to as “canopic jars.” This led to the term later being mistakenly applied to Egyptian funerary vessels with human and animal heads that held the viscera of mummies.

Q The other day I “read the riot act” to my son for not cleaning his room. This made me wonder where the expression came from. Can you tell me? – M.J., Bowling Green, Ky.

A: People have been “reading the riot act” since 1714 when King George I of England issued the Riot Act.

George was not an exceptionally popular king, most likely because he had a rather abrupt manner and also because he was the first king of the house of Hanover, a German, and never bothered to learn the language of his subjects.

As a result, people often assembled in the streets to express their dissatisfaction with the king. George wasn’t too keen on his people either, so he would send out a justice of the peace to read the Riot Act of 1714., which would order them to disperse and depart.

This column was prepared by the editors of Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, Tenth Edition. Readers may send questions to Merriam-Webster’s Wordwatch, P.O. Box 281, 47 Federal St., Springfield, Mass. 01102.

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