Senior managing editor and logophile Andy Hollandbeck reveals the sometimes surprising roots of common English words and phrases. Remember: Etymology tells us where a word comes from, but not what it means today.
Modern English spelling isn’t ruled by logic and consistency — that’s why winning a spelling bee is such an accomplishment. And near the top of every list of English’s worst spelling catastrophes is the word yacht, one of only three English words that contain a silent ch. (The other two are chthonic and chthonian, which both mean “of or relating to the underworld.”)
Though the etymological roots of the word are pretty straightforward, the story of the English monarchy’s first yacht isn’t.
In a world before airflight, oceangoing ships were the primary means of transporting goods. And especially in the centuries after Europeans came to America, when ships more often sailed out of sight of land, piracy and smuggling were common problems for businesses like the Dutch East India Company. Shipbuilders were continually improving ship designs so that authorities could chase down or chase off these nautical ne’er-do-wells.
From the Old High German jagon “to hunt, to chase” and schiff “ship,” a light, quick sailing vessel used for this type of protection was called jachtschiff, literally “hunting ship.” The name was shortened pretty quickly, and to the Dutch, it was a yaght or, later, a jacht.
When English speakers began writing about yachts, they didn’t know how to spell it either, and there are examples of it being called a yeogh, yoath, yaught, and jacht, all of which make just as much sense as yacht.
Enter the English monarchy: In 1649, Charles I, King of England, Scotland, and Ireland, was executed, and his son became King Charles II — but only of Scotland. After the elder’s death, the English monarchy was abolished and the English Commonwealth established, with Oliver Cromwell as its Lord Protector.
Charles II went into exile in France, the Dutch Republic, and the Spanish Netherlands. This went on for about ten years, and there are plenty of books about Cromwell and the English Civil War to read if you’re interested the political history of that decade. The important point for our story is that Cromwell died in 1658 (probably from sepsis). After some more intrigue, espionage, and political maneuvering, Charles II returned to England and was crowned King of England, Scotland, and Ireland on his 30th birthday, May 29, 1660.
The Dutch East India Company had built a yacht that was christened the Mary. The city of Amsterdam bought it and, to honor the restoration of the monarchy in England, gave it as a gift to Charles II in 1660. It became the first Royal Yacht in the Royal Navy: The HMY Mary.
Charles II didn’t use the yacht to chase down pirates, though. He used it as a pleasure vehicle. What’s more, he wanted a faster one. Just a year later, Phineas Pett built for him the speedier HMY Katherine, and the Mary was demoted and used to transport diplomats and civil servants to and from Ireland.
The HMY Mary struck some rocks and sank along the coast of England while sailing in dense fog in 1675. It was discovered by divers in 1971, and around 1,500 artifacts recovered from the shipwreck are on display at the National Museums and Galleries on Merseyside, in and around Liverpool and Merseyside, England.
But as far as yachts are concerned, the rich and upwardly ambitious took their cue from the king. Pirates were still being chased off, but yacht eventually became the name of a broad spectrum of speedy sailing (and later motorized) ships used for pleasure cruises and racing.
More recently: Yacht rock is a style of soft, feel-good, melody-driven music that emerged from the West Coast in the mid-1970s and early 1980s — but it wasn’t called yacht rock at the time. The name for this style of music (exemplified by Kenny Loggins, the Doobie Brothers, and Michael McDonald) was coined in 2005 for an online comedy series. J.D. Ryznar, Hunter Stair, Lane Farnham, and some friends produced short videos lampooning the style and personalities of the soft rock set. They called the series Yacht Rock, apparently after identifying Christopher Cross’s “Sailing” as an archetype of the style.
Become a Saturday Evening Post member and enjoy unlimited access. Subscribe now
