"Hip" from Wolof?; Big Apple Whores (cont.); My book is published

[Douglas G. Wilson]

>Barry and others will be unsurprised to learn that in today's NYT (p.
>E18), reviewer Ben McGrath also cites Leland's Wolof etymology of
>"hip" without disclaimer.  So now it's official.

It's also unsurprising that Wolof (according to my dictionary) has no
letter "h" ... although it is purportedly the language of origin not only
for "hip" and even "hep-cat" but also for "honky" (in Wikipedia etc.).

The verb "open one's eyes" does appear, as "xippi" ("x" = /x/ apparently).
"See" does not have any entry like "hip"/"hep". The supposed etymon of
"honky" sometimes given as "honq" = "pink" appears as "xonxa" = "red". Of
course it may be that Wolof was a little different a few hundred years ago
... is it safe to assume that the scholars responsible for discovering
these African etymologies did diligent research into the Wolof lexicon and
phonetics of past centuries?

-- Doug Wilson