PalQ

Legend has it that the Elephant & Castle district in London got its name from a cockney derivation of 'Infanta de Castilla', the title of Isabella. ??? Can someone explain this more thoroughly?

cocofromdijon

Is a French explanation ok? ;-)
En Angleterre, un endroit s'appelle elephant and castle, par altération d' Infanta de castilla. Il fut dédié à Catalina, fille des rois Catholiques et reine d'Angleterre, lors de son mariage avec Henry VIII.
a wedding present for Catalina, how nice!

twk

http://tinyurl.com/epwyt

PalQ

merci coco - et fait de dos maintenant, c'est trop tard! Passez une bonne nuit.

cocofromdijon

oui Pal je vais bientot faire dodo! (it is only 10.30pm here and far too hot to sleep!)

ImitationOfChrist

I am a cockney, born in Stepney. I know that elephant in cockney means to get pissed drunk. I was always told that Elephant & Castle station was named after an old pub in the area that had an elephant and castle as its "crest," being that India was a colony of GB.
This is why there is a restaurant chain called Elephant & Castle in the U.S.

It is funny that you asked this question, Pal Q, because I just saw a billboard ad for Elephant & Castle near Harrisburg, PA.

ImitationOfChrist

I just clicked on the URL that was posted by TWK. It doesn't make sense that Elephant & Castle was named after Catherine, first wife of Henry VIII, and mother of Mary Tudor. She was Catherine of ARAGON, not Castille.

Neopolitan

Here are a number of answers. Click on some of the links for even further possibilities. I think that the original idea of Infanta de Castille makes the most sense.
http://tinyurl.com/kg6p2

wasleys

The Infanta origin is often quoted, but others say the land on which the pub was built belonged to the Cutlers' Company, the symbol of which was an elephant (ivory knife handles) with a howdah on its back.

See http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-ele1.htm

flanneruk

There isn't a single shred of evidence for the "Infanta de Castilla" theory. It's not a legend: it's a myth simple-minde tour guides have invented.

Imitation of Christ is actually wrong: Catherine of Aragon really was the Infanta de Castilla, being the daughter of Isabella 1 of Castille.

But there just isn't any trace of the Elephant area carrying the name till the late 18th century. By when Queen Catherine - the only legitimate wife Henry 8 ever had - was long forgotten.

Thank God, since had we ever carried the illegitimacy of Henry's children by his mistresses to its logical conclusion, we'd never have had Elizabeth 1. Mind you, we'd never have had the dreadful Edward 6 either.

But by the late 18th century, Indian-connected names were cropping up all over Britain (though India was never a "colony" of Britain). And "castle" meaning "howdah" has a VERY long pedigree.

It's quite simple: the term first crops up when it's used to mean elephant with a howdah. So that's what it means.