Anglo-Saxons the gold-finger
Preserved but no longer current.
This finger between the long and little finger was used by the Romans as a ring-finger, from the belief that a nerve ran through it to the heart. Hence the Greeks and Romans used to call it the medical finger, and used it for stirring mixtures, under the nption that nothing noxi- ous could touch it without its giving instant warning to the heart.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “Anglo-Saxons the gold-finger” mean?
This finger between the long and little finger was used by the Romans as a ring-finger, from the belief that a nerve ran through it to the heart. Hence the Greeks and Romans used to call it the medical finger, and used it for stirring mixtures, under the nption that nothing noxi- ous could touch it without its giving instant warning to the heart.
Is “Anglo-Saxons the gold-finger” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.