Etymology of "wacko"

[Joel S. Berson]

One can have fun antedating -o (suffix2).  The famous elephant Jumbo
dates to earlier than 1882 (when he was sold to Barnum)--but what is
a jumb?  However, the name is said (by OED2) to possibly derive from
mumbo jumbo, which dates to 1738.  Beats the Marx Bros. and Gus Mager?

Joel

At 1/30/2006 06:02 PM, you wrote:
>And there are the two famous elephants, one real and one imagined:
>Jumbo and Dumbo.
>
>-Wilson
>
>
>On 1/30/06, Baker, John <JMB at stradley.com> wrote:
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       "Baker, John" <JMB at STRADLEY.COM>
> > Subject:      Re: Etymology of "wacko"
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> >         The Marx Brothers names, in turn were influenced by Gus Mager's
> > comic strips.  According to Toonopedia, "Starting in 1904, with Knocko
> > the Monk, he [sc. Gus Mager] did regular features for Hearst about
> > people caricatured as monkeys, usually named after a dominant trait.
> > Braggo the Monk, Rhymo the Monk, Colfeeto the Monk, Tightwaddo the Monk
> > and many more followed. The monks became quite popular, even sparking a
> > minor national fad of using monk-like names to nickname real people. In
> > fact, the Marx Brothers, Groucho, Harpo, Chico, Zeppo and Gummo, got
> > their stage names from that source - Mager even had a Groucho the Monk."
> > IIRC, Harpo Speaks is explicit about the derivation from Knocko the
> > Monk.
> >
> >         I think this tells us, at a minimum, that as early as 1904
> > people were deriving "-o" names.  It's hard to tell at this remove to
> > what extent Gus Mager was a source for this, other than the explicit
> > crediting for the Marx Brothers.
> >
> >
> > John Baker
> >
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf
> > Of Benjamin Zimmer
> > Sent: Monday, January 30, 2006 4:49 PM
> > To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> > Subject: Re: Etymology of "wacko"
> >
> > On 1/30/06, Baker, John <JMB at stradley.com> wrote:
> > >
> > >         Should the -o ending be considered so limited?  Think of the
> > > Marx Brothers, with Harpo so-called because he played a harp, Chico
> > > liked the chicks (it was originally Chicko, but the k was quickly
> > > dropped), and so forth.  There's an account of their naming in Harpo's
> >
> > > autobiography, Harpo Speaks; I don't have it available, but they
> > > certainly took on these names well before 1935.
> >
> > It's said that they got get their nicknames from comic Art Fisher during
> > a backstage poker game in Galesburg, Illinois on May 15, 1914.
> >
> > http://www.whyaduck.com/info/grouchochron.htm
> > http://www.chicagotribune.com/travel/destinations/midwest/chi-0511200197
> > nov20,1,3054951.story
> >
> >
> > --Ben Zimmer
> >
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> >
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