July 11, 1996

jury-rig

What about jury-rig? How did rigging a jury lead to fixing something with Band-Aids and bubble gum?

It didn't; despite the fact that "rigging a jury" and "to jury-rig" use the same words, their resemblance is coincidental.

jury-rig is based on one word "jury" which is a nautical sense meaning 'makeshift; temporary' and one word "rig" referring to a ship's sails and masts. The first known example of this "jury" is the compound jury-mast, 'a temporary mast put up to replace one that has been broken or lost', attested since the early seventeenth century. A jury-rig, then, is 'a temporary or makeshift rigging', and the verb is used figuratively in the sense 'to assemble or arrange hastily in a makeshift manner'. The origin of this word "jury" is not certain, but some scholars identify it with iuwere, a late Middle English word meaning 'help; aid', borrowed from the Old French ajurie.

The expression to rig a jury is based on a different "jury" and a different "rig." The "jury" in question is the standard sense 'group of people sworn to render a verdict under the law', which is from an Old French word meaning 'to swear' that's unrelated to the previous "jury" we've discussed. The "rig" means 'to manipulate fraudulently or underhandedly', and is probably from an earlier noun 'a prank; swindle', ultimately of unknown origin. This "rig" may be related to the nautical sense, but this is unclear. It is first found in the mid-nineteenth century.