The Meaning of Cray
I have reproduced the item here, as I believe that it is right and proper to do so, if only to remind and notify future visitors to this website and who maybe never obtained a copy of that programme that this is what the word 'cray' actually means — and has meant for hundreds of years. It also ties in nicely with the history of Cray Wanderers Football Club theme.
Believe it or not, the word ‘cray’ does not only mean ‘crazy’. This is apparently a modern way of using the word by younger generations of people. The historical word ‘cray’ comes from the Saxon word ‘crecca’ and the Welsh word ‘craie’, meaning ‘a brook or fresh water’, which is the word’s meaning in the name of St Mary Cray – the original home of Cray Wanderers, of course.
The main problem with the English language is that, whenever pop-culture dictates, it latches onto similar-sounding words and changes them to suit its own needs. Hence, we now get ‘cray’ meaning ‘crazy’. All because of the want of a ‘z’. Is it laziness that spurs such culture on to drop certain letters of an existing word in order to create what is to them a ‘new’ word? Hmmm. You decide.
The first appearance of ‘cray’, sometimes also lengthened to ‘cray-cray’, as a means of saying ‘crazy’ was apparently in the Online Slang Dictionary in 2001. However, a reference to ‘cray’ meaning ‘diseased or sickly’ can be traced back to the early 16th century. That’s long before the word was introduced as a substitute for ‘crazy’ in the early 21st century.
The village of St Mary Cray was named after the River Cray that runs through it. However, the village was originally called South Cray but, in the 13th century, it was renamed St Mary Cray following the building of St Mary’s church in the immediate vicinity. That church still stands today, opposite the bottom end of Star Lane, in the shadow of the nine-arch railway viaduct that crosses the village.
So, when someone says they are feeling a bit ‘cray’, you can quite rightly ask them if they mean that they support Cray Wanderers. Or, if they mean that they want to visit any of the Crays (St Mary Cray, St Paul’s Cray, Foots Cray or even Crayford). Your comment may go flying over their head if they don’t already know the origin of the word but, don’t worry unduly, as it’s not your fault. Local history seems to be a subject matter that’s prone to dying out nowadays, unfortunately.
Trevor Mulligan
The image of the St Mary Cray viaduct that accompanies this article was obtained from the Look and Learn website and is in the public domain.