Etymology of exclamation "jiminy crickets"

[Jonathan Lighter]

Good, Jerry. Would that help to explain the supposedly Swedish-English "Yumpin' Yimminy!" (which suddenly seems to be more than just a B-movie creation)?

JL

"Cohen, Gerald Leonard" <gcohen at UMR.EDU> wrote:
---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: "Cohen, Gerald Leonard"
Subject: Etymology of exclamation "jiminy crickets"
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I'd like to fill in a small gap in HDAS, viz. the etymology of the exclamation of surprise "jiminy crickets." HDAS (perhaps following other sources) says: "elab. of earlier _jiminy_, var. of _Gemini_."

A better etymology than "Gemini" is the German interjection "jemine," known to derive from Latin "Jesu domine" (e.g., Kluge, _Etymologisches Woerterbuch der deutschen Sprache_). "Crickets" would be a substitution for the partially similar-sounding "Christ" to avoid speaking a sacred name in vain.

German "jemine" (= oh dear, oh gracious) also appears in the extended forms "ojemine" and "herrjemine", with shortened variants "oje" and "herrje." (Here, German "Herr" = Lord)

Gerald Cohen


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