Etymology of "mosh"?

[Lynne Murphy]

As promised (or threatened), I checked out the Chambers dictionary.
There is no listing of _mosh_ (dial. 'mash'), so still no evidence
that _mosh_ as a dialect word was current (wherever that dialect is
supposed to be spoken) in the 1980s/90s.  Chambers also had the
intuition that _mosh_ is a blend of _squash/mash_.

I found that Chambers does the best job in differentiating moshing
and slam-dancing.  This is from the 1993 edition. (There's a newer
one out.  They annoyingly don't print the edition number on the
copyright page.  It's just "new edition", which isn't new anymore.)

_moshing_ (slang) an energetic, sinuous dance done in a crowded space
to heavy metal or thrash music [Origin uncertain.  Perh. from squash
and mash.]

[run on definition at _slam_:]
_slam-dancing_  (at esp. heavy metal, rock concerts) the practice of
leaping into the air and crashing into others in the crowd (also
_slamming_).

Lynne


--
Dr M Lynne Murphy
Lecturer in Linguistics
School of Cognitive and Computing Sciences
University of Sussex
Brighton BN1 9QH UK
phone +44-(0)1273-678844
fax    +44-(0)1273-671320