Origins of Even-Stephen

Abstract

VEN-STEPHEN AS A RHYMING colloquial phrase, an expression for 'equal' (like fifty-fifty or handy-dandy), is somewhat out of the ordinary for English slang. Though it seems to incorporate a Christian name, it has no specific reference to human behavior or personality, as do other formations such as silly-Billy.' However, it may be argued that the phrase is not without discernible historical origins and that, like willy-nilly, even-Stephen was not originally based upon a name but made sound grammatical and semantic sense. The earliest instance of even-Stephen quoted by the Oxford English Dictionary Supplement is from Swift's Journal to Stella, 20 January 1710/ 1711: Now we are even, quoth Stephen, when he gave his wife six blows for one. The OED places this example in brackets, to indicate it is given for what may be called subsidiary purposes, in this case, because the citation does not include the form as a single word. Yet, it seems unlikely that Swift should by chance have hit upon the components of an expression that occurs with frequency in later writers. If earlier instances could be adduced, Swift's usage would appear more authentic. Indeed, it may be that Swift is here playing on an established colloquialism whose origins escape him. We may perhaps understand the origins of even-Stephen better if we first turn to a number of analogous phrases. A lyric in the Vernon manuscript (later fourteenth century) implores its reader: Loke thou bere the feir and euen ... / For ofte men meten at vn-set steuen.2 Steuen here derives from Old English stefn meaning 'turn, occasion, set time'. The rhyme euenlsteuen and the phrase vnset steuen 'unawares, out of turn' are significant collocations; it is noteworthy that they are proverbial and occur frequently in the writings of the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries. The most familiar instance is undoubtedly in Chaucer's Knight's Tale (A. 1524): It is ful fair a man to bere him evene, / For al day meeteth men at unset stevene.3 Here again even and steven rime, and unset stevene contrasts, at least implicity, with a set steven or even steven. Other fourteenth-century examples occur in Sir Eglamour of Artois (ca. 1400): Hyt is soth sayd, be God of heuen, / 'Mony meten at vnsett steuen' ;4 and in the Proverbs of Wisdom (ca. 1400): Att vnsett steven men may mete.5