Scourge

A scourge is a whip or lash, especially a multi-thong type, used to inflict severe corporal punishment or self-mortification on the back.

Etymology

The word is most commonly considered to be derived from Old French escorgier - "to whip", going further back to the Vulgar Latin excorrigiare: the Latin prefix ex- "out, off" with its additional English meaning of "thoroughly", plus corrigia - "thong", or in this case "whip". Some connect it to Latin: 'excoriare', "to flay", built of two Latin parts, ex- ("off") and corium, "skin".

Description

The typic (Latin: flagrum; diminutive: flagellum) has several thongs fastened to a handle; cat o' nine tails: naval thick-rope knotted-end scourge, the army and civil prison versions usually are leather.

The scourge, or flail, and the crook are the two symbols of power and domination depicted in the hands of Osiris in Egyptian monuments. They are the unchanging form of the instrument throughout the ages, though one interpretation of the flail depicted in Egyptian mythology is that it was an agricultural instrument used to thresh wheat, not implement corporal punishment.

USS Scourge (1812)

USS Scourge was an American warship converted from a confiscated Canadian merchant schooner. She foundered along with the American warship Hamilton during a squall on Lake Ontario at 2:00am on Sunday, August 8, 1813,. during the War of 1812.

Scourge began its career as the schooner Lord Nelson, named after the famous British Admiral Horatio Nelson. The schooner was built at Niagara-on-the-Lake in Upper Canada for merchant James Crooks and launched on May 1, 1811 as an unarmed merchant schooner to carry freight between Upper Canadian ports. Lord Nelson was illegally seized by the US Navy on 9 June 1812, almost two weeks before the War of 1812, on suspicion of smuggling. The schooner was on a voyage from Prescott, Upper Canada to Niagara, Upper Canada (then known as Newark) carrying freight and personal luggage when it was stopped and searched by Lt. Melancthon T. Woolsey in command of the American warship USS Oneida. Woolsey accused the Lord Nelson of smuggling American goods in violation of the Embargo Act of 1807, which forbid trading between the United States and British colonies. The schooner was taken to the US naval base at Sackets Harbor, New York. Although there was no proof of smuggling and the schooners owner James Crooks immediately went to Sackets Harbour to dispute the seizure, the onset of war prevented the return of his vessel.

Scourge (comics)

Scourge, in comics, may refer to:

See also