DBD 02-27-2025: Derek/Derrick

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Derek, Derrick, and other homonyms

Derrick is a Germanic word, a shortening of “Theodoric” meaning “ruler of the People”. Thomas Derrick was a late 16th-century English navy sailor under the 2nd Earl of Essex who was convicted with 23 other sailors for doing a little light rape during the AngloSpanish War. There was nobody around willing to act as executioner, so the Earl pardoned Derrick if he agreed to execute the other 23, which he did by hanging them. He then went on to continue being an executioner, dispatching more than 3,000 people over his 14-year career. Midway through his career, he ironically executed the Earl of Essex. The Earl was convicted of Treason and was the last person ever executed on Tower Green - the little park next to the Tower of London. Late in Derrick’s career, he invented the structure that included lifts and pulleys at the top to quickly raise and lower a person. Today, oil “derricks” are named after Thomas.