Rothschildren

English

Etymology

From children, plural of child, by re-analyzing Rothschild as Roth + -s- + child.

Proper noun

Rothschildren

1. (nonstandard) plural of Rothschild (“surname”)
   • 1825, Louisa Thompson, “Grimm’s Ghost. Letter XXVII. News from Brighton.”, in The New Monthly Magazine and Literary Journal, part II (Original Papers), London: Henry Colburn, […], page 353:

     […] when the elderly worthies have arrived opposite the Snake Houses—so called because the Rothschildren were intertwined there—they stand open-mouthed to catch the sea-air, for all the world as if they were singing “Come if you dare,” to those horrid Roman Catholics the French, on the opposite coast, at a place they call Dip, because people go there to bathe.

   • 1850 June 28, Thomas Babington Macaulay, edited by William Thomas, The Journals of Thomas Babington Macaulay, London: Pickering & Chatto, published 2008, →ISBN, page 102:

     Lady Morley called my Hebrew hosts of yesterday the Rothschildren. I forgot to mention one droll occurrence – the Neapolitan Rothschild near whom I sate began to abuse the King of Naples – a fool – a villain – a poltroon.

   • 1862 May, “Theatres”, in Les Modes Parisiennes and Journal du Beau Monde, Fashions, Literature, the Drama, Music, and the Fine Arts, volume I, number 2, Paris: […]. London: W. Kent and Co., […], page 31, column 1:

     The Princess Anna Murat appeared as a Neapolitan woman; Madame de Girardin, a shepherdess with powdered hair and silver crook, while Madame Alphonse de Rothschild, (one of the Rothschildren,) appeared inundated with roses and diamonds, an amphora in hand (which must have been in the way of a valse), and her head surmounted by a little lyre.

   • 1917, The Sketch, volume 98:

     The Rothschildren. […] Rothschild, who inherit their father’s immense wealth, inherit also the true-blue Rothschild tradition.

   • 1959, Diana Cooper, The Light of Common Day, London: w:Rupert Hart-Davis, […], page 221:

     At noon on 19 July I was writing: / At the port / We had a merry dinner with the Rothschildren and Winston and Venetia, Winston packed for the Ferry with bezique-cards in hand for plucking me.

   • 1966, Randolph S[pencer] Churchill, Winston S. Churchill, volumes I (Youth, 1874–1900), Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Company; Cambridge, Mass.: The Riverside Press, →LCCN, page 274:

     The Rothschilds, in all the countries in which they settled, prospered and proved adaptable and good citizens of the countries of their adoption. They successfully transcended all kinds of snobbery and racial distaste in England, France, Germany and Austria. They acclimatized themselves to the new atmosphere in which they were living, and established rapidly their own standards of comfort, luxury, artistic taste and above all of cuisine. The Rothschildren achieved in many people’s eyes the status of minor royalty.

   • 1999, The Bulletin, page 126:

     […] one of the Rothschildren cabled an offer of £400. The finder was patriotic enough to accept a smaller bid from Dunedin Museum. There is talk of a lawsuit between owners of dredge and finder as to rights of property in the egg.

   • 2000, Roland Hill, Lord Acton, New Haven, Conn., London: Yale University Press, →ISBN, page 395:

     Rothschild was the son of the Liberal MP for the City of London who was to have been raised to the peerage with Acton in 1869 but whose name was later withdrawn; his son received the honour in 1885. Acton was a frequent guest of the “Rothschildren,” as he called them, at Tring.

   • 2020, Lucy Pollard, “War Again (1936–1945)”, in Margery Spring Rice: Pioneer of Women’s Health in the Early Twentieth Century, Open Book Publishers, →ISBN, page 116:

     The Ehrlichs and the Rothschilds¹ were Jewish and, after the Anschluss, Margery was able to offer them sanctuary while they established themselves in Britain. […] 1 Always referred to by Margery as ‘the Rothschildren’.

Noun

Rothschildren

1. (nonstandard) plural of Rothschild (“very rich person”)
   • 1832, [Thomas Hood], “Open Sesamé; or, the Way to get Money. By a Rich Man, who was once Poor. London, 1832. Griffiths.”, in The Athenæum: Journal of Literature, Science, and the Fine Arts, London: […] James Holmes, […] J. Francis. […], page 219, column 1:

     With such a concern, or a share even, the oracle may safely promise that one shall be a Rothschild, with a fine family of Rothschildren; but how is such a brisk business to be had, if we except the profitless transfers of Mr. Figgins?

   • 1841, T[homas] Charles Morgan, [Sydney,] Lady Morgan, The Book Without a Name, volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], pages 239–240:

     Now, though it must be admitted that the highest grades of wealth are but rarely within the reach of a good sort of person, and that “criminibus debent hortos” is as true at present, as it was in the days of Juvenal, yet is there something in this class that admirably fits its members for the business of money-making. If they are not all Rothschildren, they are, to a man, at their ease; and it is as rare to meet with a good sort of person, as a Quaker, in absolute destitution.

   • 1852, “Racy Thoughts: Of a Young Man on coming home from Ascot, wet through, and having lost all his Money”, in Punch, volume XXII, London: […] [T]he Office, […], page 254, column 2:

     The man who believes in his luck at racing is doomed to be a penniless man, let him be as rich as all the Rothschildren of Israel put together!

   • 1860, [Frederic Charles] Lascelles Wraxall, Camp Life: or Passages from the Story of a Contingent, London: Charles J. Skeet, […], page 258:

     But, as I shall never have that sum at my command, I must lay aside the scheme, leaving it to be carried out by the Rothschildren of fortune.

   • [1861], Bracebridge Hemyng, The Dark Cloud with the Silver Lining, London: James Blackwood, […], pages 290 and 293:

     “Well, my friend, we will crush this quartz, and what will be the result? we shall become Rothschilds.” “There are two of us, shall we not become Rothschildren?” said Ducane incredulously. […] “And the money?” “I will mortgage my South farm.” “Ah! I shall not die—I shall live—we shall be Rothschildren.” “Yes, we will be gods!” and, taking up his hat, Ducane ran from the room.

   • 1972 November 16, Nicholas Valéry, “Come all you Rothschildren”, in New Scientist, volume 56, number 820, page 371:

     Come all you Rothschildren / “If rape is inevitable,” Sir Frederick Dainton reminded a roomful of UK university vice-chancellors and principals last week, “relax and enjoy it.” The implication was that the saintly maidenhood of university research may be in jeopardy now (après Rothschild) that there may be more ministerial clients hanging around with bulging wallets ready to seduce the impoverished research worker.