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Hookers.
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In America, ladies who practice the oldest profession are known as Hookers. Can anyone confirm the reason for the name Hookers? I heard it goes back to the American Civil War when a General Hooker arranged for lots of girls to follow his troops round the battle areas and they became known as Hookers Girls. Obviously, in later years, the 'Girls' was dropped from the expression, to leave the one that's around today. I don't know which side Hooker was on though. The side of his men I suppose!
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Problem is, the term was used in print in 1845... some 15 years before the Civil War. Following is an excerpt from On Line Etymology:
Hooker: Often traced to the disreputable morals of the Army of the Potomac (American Civil War) under the tenure of Gen. "Fighting Joe" Hooker (1863), and the word probably was popularized by this association at that time. But it is said to have been in use in North Carolina c.1845 ("If he comes by way of Norfolk he will find any number of pretty Hookers in the Brick row not far from French's hotel."). One theory traces it to Corlear's Hook, a disreputable section of New York City. Perhaps related to hooker "thief, pickpocket" (1567), but most likely an allusion to prostitutes hooking or snaring clients. Hook in the figurative sense of "that by which anyone is attracted or caught" is recorded from 1430; and hook (v.) in the figurative sense of "catch hold of and draw in" is attested from 1577; in reference to "fishing" for a husband or a wife, it was in common use from c.1800. All of which makes the modern sense seem a natural step...
Some possible origins:
Bartlett, in his 1859 work, speculates that the term originates from Corlear's Hook, a disreputable section of New York City, but most modern sources discount this as unlikely for lack of evidence.
Hooker is also British slang for a thief. A prostitute's penchant for supplementing her income with little thievery on the sly could have led to the common usage of the term.
Hooker is also slang for an old boat (from the Dutch hoecker-schip, or fishing boat). It could have gone the way of tramp, as in tramp steamer.
The most probable explanation is that a prostitute is one that hooks or snares clients.
But we should not let old Fighting Joe completely off the hook, as it were. Civil War historian Bruce Catton writes:
[Although] the term 'hooker' did not originate during the Civil War, it certainly became popular then. During these war years, Washington developed a large [red-light district] somewhere south of Constitution Avenue. This became known as Hooker's Division in tribute to the proclivities of General Joseph Hooker and the name has stuck ever since.
So like Thomas Crapper, Fighting Joe became, through an accident of history to become associated with a word. His actions undoubtedly helped popularize the word, but the origin is not eponymous.
Furthermore...
"Hooker" showed up almost twenty years before the Civil War, and is probably based on the slang term "to hook," which back then meant "to entice or swindle." An 1850 magazine illustration, for instance, titled "Hooking A Victim" shows ladies of the evening, in hoop skirts no less, plying their trade at Broadway and Canal Streets in New York City.
One more piece of associated trivia. Hooker was the commander of the Union forces at the battle of Chancellorville, which is remembered mainly for being the battle where Stonewall Jackson was accidently shot by his own troops and died a day or two afterwards. Hooker lost the battle and was replaced shortly before Gettysburg.
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