pilliwinks

English

WOTD – 16 June 2020

Etymology

Pilliwinks, or a thumbscrew, from Venice.^{[n 1]}

From Middle English pirewinkes (“instrument of torture for squeezing the thumbs, thumbscrew”) [and other forms];^[1] further origin unknown. It has been suggested that the word is a variant of Middle English pervink, pervinke (“periwinkle (plant; Vinca minor or Vinca major); (figuratively) evil man”),^[1]^[2] but the Oxford English Dictionary doubts this due to the difference in meaning.^[3] Compare Swedish pille-, related to pilla (“fiddle with the fingers”).

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈpɪlɪwɪŋks/, /ˈpɪlɪˌwɪŋks/
Audio (Southern England): (file)
(General American) IPA^(key): /ˈpɪliˌwɪŋks/
(Scotland) IPA^(key): /ˈpɪlɪwɪŋks/
Hyphenation: pil‧li‧winks

Noun

pilliwinks pl (plural only)

(chiefly Scotland, historical) A torture device for squeezing the fingers; a thumbscrew.
- [1592?], attributed to James Carmichael, Newes from Scotland. Declaring the Damnable Life of Doctor Fian a Notable Sorcerer, who was Burned at Edenbrough in Ianuarie last. 1591. […], [London]: Printed [by T. Scarlet] for William Wright, →OCLC; republished as G[eorge] H[enry] Freeling, editor, Newes from Scotland, Declaring the Damnable Life of Doctor Fian, […]‎^[1], London: From the Shakespeare Press [for the Roxburghe Club], by W[illiam] Bulmer and Co., 1816, →OCLC:
  [H]er maiſter to the intent that he might the better trie and finde out the truth of the ſame, did with the help of others, torment her with the torture of the Pilliwinkes upon her fingers, which is a grieuous torture, [...]
- 1774, [John] Maclaurin, “Introduction to the Criminal Cases”, in Arguments, and Decisions, in Remarkable Cases, before the High Court of Justiciary, and Other Supreme Courts, in Scotland, Edinburgh: Printed for J. Bell, […]; London: E. & C. Dilly, […], →OCLC, § 9 (Of the Torture), page xxxvi:
  On the 24th June 1596, John Stewart, Maſter of Orkney, was indicted for conſulting with Aliſon Balfour, a witch, for the deſtruction of Patrick Earl of Orkney, his brother, by poiſon.— [...] No regard can be had to it, in reſpect the ſaid confeſſion was extorted by force of torment; [...] her little daughter, about ſeven years old, put in the pilniewinks; all in the poor woman's preſence, to make her confeſs. [...] It was pleaded for Alaſter Grant, who was indicted for theft and robbery 3d Auguſt 1632, "That he cannot paſs to the knowledge of an aſſize, in respect he was twice put to the torture, firſt in the boots, and next in the pilliewinks or pinniewinks; [...]"
- 1819, Jedediah Cleishbotham [pseudonym; Walter Scott], chapter IX, in Tales of My Landlord, Third Series. […], volume II (The Bride of Lammermoor), Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; Hurst, Robinson, and Co. […], →OCLC, page 230:
  They prick us and they pine us, and they pit us on the pinnywinkles for witches; [...]
- 1820, [Walter Scott], chapter V, in The Abbot. […], volume III, Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne & Co.] for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; and for Archibald Constable and Company, and John Ballantyne, […], →OCLC, pages 173–174:
  [S]end me that hag hither; she shall avouch what it was that she hath given to the wretch Dryfesdale, or the pilniewinks and thumbikins shall wrench it out of her finger-joints.
- 1868, “Bothwell Brig”, in James Maidment, editor, Scotish Ballads and Songs, Historical and Traditionary, volume II, Edinburgh: William Paterson, […], →OCLC, page 298:
  The two generals were ultra Tories, and were regarded not unjustly as acting with uncalled for severity against the disaffected. They introduced "from Muscovy" "Pilliwinks, or Thumbikins,"—"a new invention, used," says Fountainhall, "among the Coilzears [i.e., colliers] when transgressors."
- 1912 November, Francis Watt, “The Supernatural”, in The Book of Edinburgh Anecdote, Edinburgh, London: T[homas] N[oble] Foulis, →OCLC, page 233:
  [Jeillie Duncan, a servant-girl] made so many cures that she was presently suspected of witchcraft. She was treated to orthodox modes of torture; her fingers were pinched with the pilliwinks, her forehead was wrenched with a rope, but she would say nothing until the Devil's mark was found on her throat, when she gave in and confessed herself a servant of Satan.
  The incident described is the same one mentioned in the 1592 quotation.

Alternative forms

pinnywinkles

Translations

torture device for squeezing the fingers — see thumbscrew

Notes

^ From the collection of the former National Museum of Crime & Punishment in Washington, D.C., USA.

References

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 “pirewinkes, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
^ “pervink(e, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
^ “pilliwinks, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, March 2006; “pilliwinks, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.