saditty, hincty + dicty

[Douglas G. Wilson]

>-----
>_Dictionary of Caribbean English Usage_ (2003), edited by Richard Allsopp,
>p. 191, col. 2
>*dick ty* (dic ty) [dIkti] adj (Antg, Baha) [IF] [Usu of women] Elegantly
>dressed; [Derog] proud and haughty looking; [of a hairstyle] glamorous and
>showy. [Prob < (SE) _dignity_ with reduction and devoicing of intervocalic
>consonant cluster [dIgn at ti > dIgnti > dIkti]
>http://print.google.com/print?id=PmvSk13sIc0C&q=dickty
>-----
>
>Does the "dignity" derivation seem plausible? And could it have originated
>in Caribbean English? Marcus Garvey was born in Jamaica, after all.

As for the Caribbean origin, it's conceivable, but I think the traffic is
often in the other direction. No information on dating in the Caribbean, I
suppose?

As for the etymology, I doubt the exact progression presented above.
However, note 'obsolete' Scots "ding" /dIN/ as a variant of "digne"
/dInj(@)/, descended from French "digne".

And look at the semantic match of US and Caribbean "dicty" with Scots (and
northern English) "dink" [adj.] (origin "obscure" ... but perhaps related
to "ding"??), still in use (I think), defined in SND as "(1) Neat, trim,
finely dressed ... Applied only to women. / (2) Prim, precise; haughty."

Is there any record of "dincty"/"dinkty"?

-- Doug Wilson