Lapskous (1947) and Lapskous Boulevard (1969)

[Benjamin Zimmer]

On Tue, 14 Jun 2005 13:49:30 -0400, Mark A. Mandel
<mamandel at LDC.UPENN.EDU> wrote:

>Barry cited:
>   >>>>>
>23 August 1947, Chicago <i>Daily Tribune</i>, pg. 13:
><i>A Recipe for Lapskaus,</i>
> <<<<<
>
>When I saw that spelling, a relay clicked and I remembered seeing
>"lobscouse". I'm supposed to be working right now; somebody with the
>cycles free, as they say around here, can go Google it.

The sailor's stew "lobscouse" is in the OED from 1706.  Presumably that's
the source for Scandinavian "lapskaus", but some speculate (without
evidence) that "lapskaus" came first:

-----
http://www.cin.org/archives/cinkitch/200009/0002.html
Most English dictionaries, while they do define Lobscouse as a sailor's
stew or hash seem to have no idea whatever as to the word's etymology. "Of
obscure origin," they say, or "origin unknown." I suspect, however, that
the term began as a Nordic dish, as in the Norwegian 'lapskaus'
(hodgepodge), which one Norwegian in Strasbourg explained to me over lunch
one rainy noon meal. The Norwegian dictionary online says that 'lapskaus'
comes from the English "lobscouse", while the Danish dictionary says that
'labskovs' comes from the English "Lobscouse". Nobody seems willing to
accept the blame.
-----

Interestingly, "lobscouse" is the source for "Scouse" = 'native/dialect of
Liverpool".



--Ben Zimmer