Editing Union Jack (section)

==Terminology==
The terms ''Union Jack'' and ''Union Flag'' are both used historically for describing the national flag of the United Kingdom.

According to the website of the [[Parliament of the United Kingdom]]:<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.parliament.uk/|website=UK Parliament |title=UK Parliament |access-date=6 March 2015}}</ref><ref name="UK Parliament Union of the Crowns">{{cite web | title=Union of the Crowns | website=UK Parliament | url=https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/evolutionofparliament/legislativescrutiny/act-of-union-1707/overview/union-of-the-crowns/ | access-date=10 February 2023}}</ref> {{blockquote|Until the early 17th century England and Scotland were two entirely independent kingdoms (Wales had been annexed into the [[Kingdom of England]] under the [[Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542]].). This changed dramatically in 1603 on the death of [[Elizabeth I of England]]. Because the Queen died unmarried and childless, the English crown passed to the next available heir, her cousin [[James VI and I|James VI, King of Scotland]]. England and Scotland now shared the same monarch under what was known as a union of the crowns.<ref name="Marshall 2017 p.110-111" />}} Each kingdom had its own national flag for ships, but in 1606 James VI and I introduced a combined national flag.<ref name="Blomfield 1895">{{cite book | title=Journal of the Royal United Service Institution, Whitehall Yard | publisher=W. Mitchell | issue=v. 39, no. 1 | year=1895 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PicwAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA181 | access-date=10 February 2023 | pages=181–185}}</ref> The UK Parliament website states "The result was the Union Jack, Jack being a shortening of Jacobus, the Latin version of James".<ref name="UK Parliament Union of the Crowns" />

The etymology of ''jack'' in the context of flagstaffs reaches back to Middle German.  The suffix ''-kin'' was used in Middle Dutch and Middle German as a [[diminutive]].<ref name=OED-kin>{{cite OED|-kin}}</ref>  Examples occur in both [[Chaucer]] and [[William Langland|Langland]] though the form is unknown in Old English.<ref name=OED-kin />  ''John'' is a common male forename (going back to the Bible), appearing in Dutch as ''Jan''.  Both languages use it as a generic form for a man in general.<ref name=OEDJohn>{{cite OED|John|short=yes}}</ref>  The two were combined in the Middle Dutch {{lang|dum|Janke}}, whence Middle French {{lang|frm|Jakke}} and Middle English {{lang|enm|Jack}}.<ref name=OEDJackn2>{{cite OED|Jack|id=100485|short=yes}}</ref>  ''Jack'' came to be used to identify all manner of particularly small objects or small versions of larger ones.  The [[Oxford English Dictionary]] has definition 21 "Something insignificant, or smaller than the normal size" and gives examples from 1530 to 2014 of this usage.<ref name=OEDJackn2 />  Further examples in the compounds section at 2b illustrate this.<ref name=OEDJackn2 />  The original maritime flag use of ''jack'' was "A ship's flag of a smaller size than the ensign, used at sea as a signal, or as an identifying device".<ref name=OEDjackn4>{{cite OED|Jack|id=100487|short=yes}}</ref> The jack was flown in the bows or from the head of the spritsail mast to indicate the vessel's nationality: "You are alsoe for this present service to keepe in yo<sup>r</sup> Jack at yo<sup>r</sup> Boultspritt end and yo<sup>r</sup> Pendant and yo<sup>r</sup> Ordinance"<ref>1633 quotation cited in {{cite OED|Jack|id=100487|short=yes}}</ref>  The Union Flag when instantiated as a small jack became known as the "Union Jack" and this later term transferred to more general usage of the Union Flag.<ref>{{cite OED|Union flag}} "Compare slightly later Union Jack"</ref>
[[File:The True Portraicture of His Maties Royall Ship the Soveraigne of the Seas. Built in the Yeare 1637 (detail of the Union flag on the jackstaff).jpg|thumb|A portrait of a ship, with the Union Jack placed on a jackstaff at the ship's bow, 1637]]
Also later a short flagpole was placed in the bows of a ship to fly the jack, this became known as the ''jackstaff''.<ref name=OEDjackstaff>{{cite OED|jackstaff}}</ref>

According to the [[Flag Institute]], a membership-run [[vexillological]] charity,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.flaginstitute.org/wp/about-us/|website=The Flag Institute |title=About Us |access-date=29 September 2014}}</ref> "the national flag of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories is the Union Flag, which may also be called the Union Jack."<ref name="british-flag-protocol">{{cite web |url=http://www.flaginstitute.org/wp/british-flags/flying-flags-in-the-united-kingdom/british-flag-protocol/ |website=The Flag Institute |title=British Flag Protocol |access-date=12 March 2015}}</ref> The institute has also stated: {{blockquote|text=it is often stated that the Union Flag should only be described as the Union Jack when flown in the bows of a warship, but this is a relatively recent idea. From early in its life the Admiralty itself frequently referred to the flag as the Union Jack, whatever its use, and in 1902 an Admiralty circular announced that Their Lordships had decided that either name could be used officially. In 1908, a government minister stated, in response to a parliamentary question, that "the Union Jack should be regarded as the National flag".<ref name="FlagInstitute">{{cite web |url=http://www.flaginstitute.org/wp/british-flags/the-union-jack-or-the-union-flag/ |website=The Flag Institute |title=The Union Jack or The Union Flag? |first=Bruce |last=Nicolls |access-date=20 May 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite Hansard |title=The Flying of the Union Jack |house=House of Lords |date=14 July 1908 |volume=192 |column_start=579 |column_end=580 |url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/lords/1908/jul/14/the-flying-of-the-union-jack#S4V0192P0_19080714_HOL_167 |access-date=18 December 2010 |archive-date=18 January 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120118072357/http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/lords/1908/jul/14/the-flying-of-the-union-jack#S4V0192P0_19080714_HOL_167 |url-status=live }}</ref>}} Notwithstanding Their Lordships' circular of 1902, by 1913 the Admiralty described the "Union Flag" and added in a footnote that 'A Jack is a Flag to be flown only on the "Jack" Staff'.<ref>{{citation|author=The Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty|title=Manual of Seamanship|volume=I|year=1911|orig-date=1908|publisher=HMSO|place=London|page=20|quote="Note – A Jack is a Flag to be flown only at the "Jack" Staff, ''i.e.,'' a staff on the bowsprit or forepart of the ship. ... In 1660 the Duke of York, later James II.) gave an order that the Union Flag should be worn only by the King's ships."}}</ref>

However, the authoritative ''A Complete Guide to Heraldry'' published in 1909 by [[Arthur Charles Fox-Davies]] uses the term "Union Jack".<ref>{{cite book |last=Crawford |first=JR |editor-first=Arthur Charles |editor-last=Fox-Davies |editor-link=Arthur Charles Fox-Davies |title=A Complete Guide to Heraldry |chapter=Chapter XLI The Union Jack |chapter-url=https://archive.org/stream/completeguidetoh00foxdrich#page/610/mode/2up |publisher=Dodge Publishing Company |location=New York |year=1909 |pages=611–617}}</ref>

The term "Union Flag" is used in [[Charles I of England|King Charles I's]] 1634 proclamation:

{{blockquote|text=... none of Our Subjects, of any of Our Nations and Kingdoms shall from henceforth presume to carry the Union Flag in the Main top, or other part of any of their Ships (that is) St Georges cross and St Andrew's Cross joined together upon pain of Our high displeasure, but that the same Union Flag be still reserved as an ornament proper for Our own Ships and Ships in our immediate Service and Pay, and none other."<ref name="Perrin 59">
{{cite book
|first=William Gordon
|last=Perrin
|title=British flags, their early history, and their development at sea: with an account of the origin of the flag as a national device
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JspsAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA59
|year=1922
|publisher=The University Press
|page=59
}}</ref>|sign=Proclamation appointing the Flag, as well for Our Navy Royal as for the Ships of Our Subjects of South and North Britain{{spaced ndash}}5 May 1634}} and in [[George III of the United Kingdom|King George III]]'s proclamation of 1 January 1801 concerning the arms and flag of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland:

{{blockquote|text=And that the Union Flag shall be Azure, the Crosses Saltires of St. Andrew and St. Patrick Quarterly per Saltire, counterchanged Argent and Gules; the latter fimbriated of the Second, surmounted by the Cross of St. George of the Third, fimbriated as the Saltire : ...<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=15324|page=2|date=30 December 1800}}</ref> |sign=A Proclamation Declaring His Majesty's Pleasure concerning the Royal Style and Titles appertaining to the Imperial Crown of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and its Dependencies, and also the Ensigns, Armorial Flags, and Banners thereof"}}

When the first flag representing Britain was introduced on the [[proclamation]] of [[James VI and I|King James I]] in 1606,<ref>
{{cite book
|first=William Gordon
|last=Perrin
|title=British flags, their early history, and their development at sea: with an account of the origin of the flag as a national device
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JspsAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA55
|year=1922
|publisher=The University Press
|page=55}}</ref> it became known simply as the "British flag" or the "flag of Britain". The royal proclamation gave no distinctive name to the new flag. At the [[death and funeral of James VI and I|funeral of King James]] in 1625 the flag was called the "Banner of the Union of the two Crosses of England and Scotland".<ref>John Nichols, ''Progresses of James the First'', vol. 4 (London, 1828), pp. 1043-4.</ref> The word ''jack'' was in use before 1600 to describe the [[Jack (flag)|maritime bow flag]].<ref name="FlagInstitute"/> By 1627 a small Union Jack was commonly flown in this position. One theory goes that for some years it would have been called simply the "Jack", or "Jack flag", or the "King's Jack", but by 1674, while formally referred to as "His Majesty's Jack", it was commonly called the "Union Jack", and this was officially acknowledged.<ref name="flaginst" /><ref name="Marshall 2017 p.110-111" />
[[File:King George III by Sir William Beechey.jpg|thumb|A portrait of King [[George III]] in 1800. A proclamation by George III in 1801 refers to the design as the ''Union Flag''.]]
A proclamation issued by King [[George III]] at the time of the [[Acts of Union 1800|Union of 1801]] concerned flags at sea and repeatedly referred to "Ensigns, Flags, Jacks, and Pendants" and forbade merchant vessels from wearing "Our Jack, commonly called the Union Jack" nor any pendants or colours used by the King's ships.<ref name="London Gazette 1801-01-03">{{London Gazette|issue=15325|date=3 January 1801|pages=25–27}}</ref>  Reinforcing the distinction the King's proclamation of the same day concerning the arms and flag of the United Kingdom (not colours at sea) called the new flag "the Union Flag".<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=15325|date=3 January 1801|pages=23–24}}</ref>

The size and power of the [[Royal Navy]] internationally at the time could also explain why the flag was named the "Union Jack"; considering the navy was so widely utilised and renowned by the United Kingdom and [[British Empire|colonies]], it is possible that the term ''jack'' occurred because of its regular use on all British ships using the jackstaff (a flag pole attached to the bow of a ship). The name may alternatively come from the 'jack-et' of the English or Scottish [[soldier]]s, or from the name of James I who originated the first union in 1603. Even if the term ''Union Jack'' does derive from the jack flag, after three centuries, it is now sanctioned by use and has appeared in official use, confirmed as the national flag by Parliament and remains the popular term.<ref name=Flagsofworld>{{FOTW|id=gb|title=United Kingdom|access-date=10 June 2008}}</ref>

[[Winston Churchill]], [[British Prime Minister]] from 1940 to 1945, referred to the flag of the United Kingdom as the Union Jack. In March 1899, Churchill wrote to [[Lady Randolph Churchill|his mother]] from [[British Raj|India]] about her plans to produce a new trans-Atlantic magazine, to be called ''The Anglo-Saxon Review''. The drawing at the end of this letter was deliberately facetious, teasing her for going down-market, and in the accompanying letter he wrote, "Your title 'The Anglo Saxon' with its motto 'Blood is thicker than water' only needs the Union Jack & the [[Flag of the United States|Star Spangled Banner]] crossed on the cover to be suited to one of [[Alfred Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Northcliffe|Harmsworth]]'s cheap Imperialist productions."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.churchillarchive.com/exhibitions/churchill-the-power-of-words |title=Churchill: The Power of Words |access-date=16 August 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160816065341/http://www.churchillarchive.com/exhibitions/churchill-the-power-of-words |archive-date=16 August 2016 }}</ref>
[[File:Winston Churchill at a conference in Quebec - NARA - 197117 (cropped).tif|thumb|left|[[Winston Churchill]] with other delegates of the [[First Quebec Conference]], 1943. A Union Jack is pictured in the background.]]
More recently, Reed's ''Nautical Almanac'' (1990 edition) unambiguously stated: "The Union Flag, frequently but incorrectly referred to as the Union Jack, ..." and later: "8. The Jack – A small flag worn on a jackstaff on the stem of Naval Vessels.  The Royal Navy wears the Union Flag ... This is the only occasion when it correct to describe the flag as the Union Jack".<ref>{{citation|editor1-last=Fowler|editor1-first=Jean|title=Reed's Nautical Almanac 1990|publisher=Thomas Reed Publications Limited|place=New Malden, Surrey|year=1990|isbn=978-0-947637-36-1|pages=16:2–16:3}}</ref> However, this assertion does not appear in any Reed's ''Nautical Almanac'' since 1993.  In the 2016 Reed's ''Nautical Almanac'', the only entry where this might appear, section 5.21, covering Flag Etiquette, does not include this statement. Within the ''Almanac'', neither the Union Flag nor the Union Jack are included pictorially or mentioned by name.

For comparison with another anglophone country with a large navy, ''[[jack of the United States]]'' specifically refers to the flag flown from the jackstaff of a warship, auxiliary or other U.S. governmental entity.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/us^nvj.html |title=Naval Jack (U.S.) |website=Crwflags.com |access-date=3 December 2015}}</ref>

{{anchor|Butcher's Apron}}
The ''Butcher's Apron'' is a [[pejorative]] term for the flag, common amongst [[Irish republicanism|Irish republicans]], citing the blood-streaked appearance of the flag and referring to atrocities committed in Ireland and other countries under British colonial rule.<ref>{{cite book |last=Salkie |first=Raphael |chapter=Outside the 'Free World' |title=The Chomsky Update: Linguistics and Politics |publisher=Unwin Hyman |year=1990 |page=174 |isbn=978-0-04-445589-9}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Groom |first=Nick |chapter=Union Jacks and Union Jills |editor-first=Thomas Hylland |editor-last=Eriksen |editor2-first=Richard |editor2-last=Jenkins |title=Flag, Nation and Symbolism in Europe and America |url=https://archive.org/details/flagnationsymbol00jenk |url-access=limited |publisher=Routledge |year=2007 |page=[https://archive.org/details/flagnationsymbol00jenk/page/n95 81] |isbn=978-0-415-44404-0}}</ref> In 2006, [[Sandra White]], a [[Member of the Scottish Parliament]], caused a furore when the term was used in a press release under her name. It was later blamed on the actions of a researcher, who resigned yet claimed that the comment had been approved by White.<ref name="apron">{{cite news |url=http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/news/tm_objectid=16609593&method=full&siteid=66633-name_page.html |title=SNP Face More Flak Over Flag Attacks |date=21 January 2006 |newspaper=[[Daily Record (Scotland)|Daily Record]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930033633/http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/news/tm_objectid%3D16609593%26method%3Dfull%26siteid%3D66633-name_page.html |archive-date=30 September 2007 }}</ref> The Irish folk band [[the Wolfe Tones]] has a song entitled "The Butcher's Apron" which makes reference to the term.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Tracey |first1=James D. |title=The Political Economy of Merchant Empires: State Power and World Trade, 1350–1750 |date=1997 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=117}}</ref>

In the [[Chinese language]], the flag has the nickname ''Rice-Character Flag'' ({{lang|zh|米字旗}}; [[Mandarin Chinese|Mandarin]] [[Pinyin]]: {{lang|zh-Latn|mǐzìqí}}, [[Cantonese]] [[Jyutping]]: {{lang|zh-Latn|mai5zi6kei4}}) because the pattern looks similar to the Chinese character for "rice" ({{lang|zh|米}}).<ref>{{cite book|last=Ouyang|first=Yu |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=URP1uP_JcMkC&q=%E5%AD%97%E5%85%B8+%E7%B1%B3%E5%AD%97%E6%97%97&pg=PA236 |script-title=zh:譯心雕蟲：– 個澳華作家的翻譯筆記 |publisher=Niang Publishing |year=2013 |page=236|isbn=978-986-5871-53-6 }}</ref>