Q I read that “caddie” comes from “cadet,” and I would like to know more about the history of the word. Is there a connection between the military “cadet” and a golf “caddie”? – J.P., Milton, Mass.

A: When the English adopted the French word “cadet” in the 17th century, they used it the way the French did – both for a “younger son” and for a young gentleman in training for military service (since these were generally “younger sons,” in need of a career). The Scots, pronouncing “cadet” somewhat in the French way, “CAH-day,” but spelling it “cawdie,” “cadee” or “caddie,” also began using the word in the mid-17th century to refer to a military trainee.

In 18th-century Scotland, a gang of young street people banded together under the leadership of the “Constable of the Cawdies.” It is supposed they took their name, and to some degree ran their organization, in imitation of the more respectable “caddies” in military service. Despite their unseemly appearance, they were actually on the lookout for whatever kind of employment came their way – odd jobs of any sort. And they usually turned out to be trustworthy and useful. As a result, in Scottish English “caddie” eventually came to mean “a person who waits about for odd jobs.”

One way of putting a caddie to work was to have him haul a golfer’s clubs around the course. Not surprisingly, the earliest examples of “caddie” (also spelled “caddy”) meaning specifically “golfer’s assistant” first appeared in print in Scottish sources, but not until the mid-19th century. Chances are, given Scotland’s obsession with golf, this specific use had become common in speech some time before that.

One story that crops up intermittently is that Mary, Queen of Scots, an avid player herself, was responsible for the use of “caddie” in golf, but that doesn’t quite jibe with the recorded history of the word. Supposedly Mary had a “caddie” in the form of an army cadet who carried her clubs. But Her Highness was playing golf in the mid 1500s, when “cadet” was not a word known in English, nor “caddie” in Scottish English. Mary may have used the word “cadet” in France (she was brought up in the French court), but it’s hardly likely that she was playing golf there; she most likely took it up later, when she returned to Scotland.

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, MA 01102.

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