"-meister" as name suffix

Jesse Sheidlower jester at PANIX.COM
Fri Oct 6 13:16:17 UTC 2000


I'm wondering about the use of the suffix _-meister_ as a jocular
addition to (the first syllable of) a name, as in "the Jessmeister"
or the like. There is an entry for this in HDAS, with the comment
that it was popularized by a Saturday Night Live sketch that began
in 1991, but recently a large number of people have told me that
they used it in the early '80s or late '70s or earlier. Does
anyone have any knowledge of use this early, or, better, a citation
for such use?

It seems very early to me, given the rough period that _-meister_
in its broader sense, to indicate a person knowledgable about or
expert in something specified by the initial element, appears to
have become popular itself.

Thanks.

Jesse Sheidlower
OED



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