Eine Studie in Scharlachrot by Arthur Conan Doyle

The connection between the colour and the name sheds a bit of new light on the still unresolved question of why the novel refers to 'scarlet' in the first place. It would be interesting to know what German-speaking readers think when they encounter Sherlock in Scharlach. When it was translated into German, early in the 20th century, it appeared under the title Späte Rache ('Belated Revenge'), but more recently the preferred German title is Eine Studie in Scharlachrot - not just 'scarlet' but 'scarlet red'. Arthur Conan Doyle, who had some of his education in Germany, spoke the language well enough to know that.Īnd when he brought his not-so-fair-haired detective to life in that first story in 1887, he gave the tale the title A Study in Scarlet. 'Scharlach', pronounced pretty much like 'Sherlock' except for the final consonant that only Germans and Scots can manage, is the German word for 'scarlet'. Still, there is always room for an alternative theory, and I have one to offer, after noticing a little park in the city where I live that goes by the name of Scharlach Green. (Etymologists cite spellings like 'scirloc'.) We learn in 'The Dancing Men' that Holmes's hair actually looked like 'a black top-knot', but perhaps he was blonde as a baby. It's also generally accepted (although one Sherlockian tried to make it a portmanteau word from 'sheriff' and 'lockup') that the root meaning of 'Sherlock' is 'shining-locks' or, in modern English, 'fair-haired'.

Whether Sherlock Holmes got his first name from a cricketer whom Arthur Conan Doyle admired, a 17th century theologian whom he couldn't help knowing about, a Stonyhurst schoolmate, or a great-aunt on his father's side, all of which are theories that have been plausibly advanced, there's general agreement that 'Sherlock' was an Irish surname and possibly a place-name before it was ever coupled with the name of Holmes.

Eine Studie in Scharlachrot by Arthur Conan Doyle