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The Learning Kingdom's Cool Word of the Day for April 12, 1999
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jackanapes [n. JAK-uh-nayps]
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A jackanapes is an impudent upstart. This word is rare today, but
it was quite popular in former centuries. "That ruddy jackanapes will
get what's coming to him!"
There are several stories about the origins of the word, but all of
them mention one William de la Pole, Fourth Earl and First Duke of
Suffolk (1396-1450), whose Middle English nickname was Jack Napis,
Jack Napes, or perhaps Jack-n-Apes. This name was almost certainly a
reference to his symbol, an ape on a chain.
Before the First Duke, it is possible that Jack Napes was simply a
general term of endearment for a pet monkey. The name may have taken
on its unpleasant sense as a result of de la Pole's reputation; he was
widely seen as the cause of England's eventual defeat at the end of
the Hundred Years' War, and was murdered while crossing the English
Channel.
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