Fiji zigaboo

[Jonathan Lighter]

The HDAS files show a number of _zigaboos_ from the 1920s on as an exact synonym of "jigaboo."  The ex. are notably Southern, far more than "jigaboo." "Zigaboo" (occas. shortened to "zig") is no longer common.

  The alteration of  / J ~ z / has always stfruck me as unusual and interesting.  Does it suggest a / Z / in the etymon ?  In some dialect of Italian or another immigrant language ?

  JL


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