If you’re a lawyer, business person, or a politician who wants to weasel out of a promise, avoid taxes, or otherwise shirk responsibility, you feverishly look for a loophole in a contract, law, or agreement that will allow you to escape fulfilling a promise or avoid an obligation.

But did the term “Loophole” always refer to legal agreements, taxes, or promises?

We’ll discover how the term Loophole came to be in this episode of, “History of Everyday Sayings”.

This show is for you if you are a logophile - meaning of course lover of words - a writer, speaker, a philomath, or someone who simply loves history tidbits you can use to impress friends and family.

Each episode is short and bitesized for easy listening and recall. By listening, you’ll discover how phrases and words we use everyday came to be.


There will be many surprises along our language journey, so pack your curiosity and let’s explore our phrase of the day.

Loophole

To find the origin on this rather odd word, let’s climb into our Wayback Time Travel machine and set our coordinates for 1591. That was the year according to Merriam-Webster Dictionary online when the term “Loophole” first appeared.

In the late 16th Century, European battles often involved attempts to capture castles. In the days when archers used longbows and later crossbows, arrows filled the sky in attempts to kill or wound soldiers and noblemen who had taken defensive positions in massive castle fortifications.

As you might imagine, this was not a welcome experience by those people taking refuge in the castles.

Wealthy barons and kings hired the best and brightest castle architects and builders to erect fortifications capable of withstanding these prolonged sieges.

Some creative architect, whose name is lost in the dust of history, came up with the brilliant idea to create narrow slits to allow archers within the castle to fire arrows at opposing troops. These narrow slits were known as loopholes.

While there’s no record as to who was the first to employ loopholes in castle fortifications, by the early 17th Century they were a common defensive feature.

The term loophole, most likely derived from the Dutch word lûpen meaning to watch.

Later in the seventeenth century loophole came to be used in everyday English to mean a small opening or an outlet of escape.

Few people know the origins of this often used phrase, but you can now count yourself among the tiny minority of people who do.

If you're curious about exploring more about this term, Loophole, you’ll find the references I used for this podcast episode below.

For more “Amazing History of Everyday Sayings” tasty auditory tidbits you can use to amaze friends and family, subscribe for free where you get your podcasts.

If you would like to comment on this or any other episode, email me at CarterMethod@gmail.com.

Host: Stephen Carter
Host Contact: CarterMethod@gmail.com

Mic: KB

Keywords: loophole, philomath, logophile, medieval, fortifications, knights, castles, middle ages, longbows, archers, crossbow, medieval,

References:

Merriam-Webster Online: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/loophole

Grammarist: https://grammarist.com/interesting-words/loophole/

Web Garrison, Why You Say It, Thomas Nelson Publishing, 1992. Page 146.