I'd like to hazard a guess on this one. The construct "try and do such and such" sounds to me very much like a figure of speech called hendiadys. This figure of speech is the use of two words joined by a conjunction to mean just the one word, but mean so emphatically. In fact the name "hendiadys" literally means "one through two."
I believe it was more common in classical languages than in English, but this would surely attest to its ancient origin. Examples might be "shock and awe", "rant and rave", "plain and simple". Wikipedia gives some other examples and more information.
It does seem uncommon with verbs, but it is certainly not unknown. The Bible is replete with such examples. For example, Jesus told Zacchaeus to "haste and come down from the tree." These were not two actions, but one, meaning specifically hastily come down. A common idiom in Bible English is "He answered and said...", again not one action but two, meaning "he said in answer ...".
I wonder if "try and do such and such" is a remnant of that type of hendiadys. Opinions?
According to Wikipedia, the term:
reflects a theatrical superstition in which wishing a person "good luck" is considered bad luck. The expression is sometimes used outside the theatre as superstitions and customs travel through other professions and then into common use. Among professional dancers, the phrase "break a leg" is replaced with "merde".
The article goes on to mention several theories about the actual origins of this expression. The one that is often mentioned (as far as I have heard), is called the Opposite Meaning theory. It says,
People in theatre consider it bad luck to wish an actor good luck, so instead they wish the opposite, by saying "break a leg!".
Another theory claims that the phrase has Greek origins:
In the time of Ancient Greece, people didn't applaud. Instead, they stomped for their appreciation and if they stomped long enough, they would break a leg. Or, some would have it that the term originated during Elizabethan times when, instead of applause the audience would bang their chairs on the ground—and if they liked it enough, the leg of the chair would break.[12]
Still another claims that the origins are, in fact, Yiddish:
Some etymologists believe it to be an adaptation from the Yiddish translation into German. The phrase "Hatsloche un Broche" (הצלחה און ברכה) ("success and blessing") had been calqued from the German phrase "Hals- und Beinbruch" ("neck and leg fracture"), because of near similar pronunciation.
The Phrase Finder (hat tip to Unreason) has even more theories on how the term came to be. They note that:
'Break a leg' also means, 'make a strenuous effort'. There are many references to the phrase used that way, which pre-date the earliest theatrical good luck charm meaning.
So the theories they offer stem from this. For example, the following things could be related to "breaking a leg":
- Put on a performance good enough that you will have to bend your knee in a bow or curtsey to acknowledge the applause.
- Impress the audience so much that you will need to bend down to pick up the coins they throw onto the stage.
- Pass out onto the stage to receive a curtain call (the side curtains on a stage are known as legs).
- Go on stage and have your 'big break'.
Note that still, nobody knows the exact origin of the phrase, but some are more plausible than others.
Best Answer
Buck is not originated from any currency design that features a buck or similar animal and it is used as a slang term for a dollar or similar currency in various nations including Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Nigeria and the United States.1
The Concise New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English says that buck is originally US but applied in Hong Kong and other countries where dollars are unit of currency. US, 1856.
On the other hand, a coin design (or an animal as a national symbol) can give the slang name to the coin or the currency. For example:
So, where is buck originated from as a slang term for dollar?
OED says that the origin is obscure and lists the earliest usage below from 1856:
However, there are two leading theories for the origin of buck as a slang term for dollar but there is no consensus on one origin.
1. From poker, where the token in front of the dealer was called a buck whose handle was made of buck horn and it is related to the phrase pass the buck.
The below excerpt is from the book Poker (By Wikipedians):
2. From trading, short for buckskin, a common medium of exchange in trading with the Indians.
The below supporting evidence is from the book Daily Life on the Nineteenth Century American Frontier (By Mary Ellen Jones) and there is even an example usage from 1735:
Another supporting evidence from the book America in So Many Words: Words That Have Shaped America (By Allan Metcalf, David K. Barnhart):
Additionally, there is one related origin from Canada where buck is originated from beaver pelt trading and it gave the name to a coin that features a beaver on it:3
1 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slang_terms_for_money
2 http://defineaz.com/en/economy/kiwi.html
3 http://www.pch.gc.ca/eng/1363619815777/1363619877898