Aku, Mahimahi (1836); Scampo (1890)

[Jesse Sheidlower]

On Sat, Nov 09, 2002 at 03:04:58PM -0500, Bapopik at AOL.COM wrote:
> MAHIMAHI
>
> A VOCABULARY OF WORDS IN THE HAWAIIAN LANGUAGE
> by Lorrin Andrews
> Lahainaluna: Press of the High School
> 1836
>
>  A classic book.  I was looking for "tuna."  There's a lot
> more here, but I'll torch DARE and OED on just "aku" and
> "mahimahi."

I know we've discussed before the question of what makes a word
"English" as opposed to "foreign", and I've said that it's often
hard to judge because there's a continuum involved, but this is
a case where it seems pretty clear that the words in question are
not English. Perhaps the "in the Hawaiian Language" of the title
influenced me a little.

I thus don't consider myself "torched". But I'll pick up the bus
tab for your next trip anyway, if you'd like.

Jesse Sheidlower
OED