'Bobonkt'

[Damien Hall]

Cross-post from LINGUIST.  (Apologies if someone's already cross-posted it!)  As
usual, please reply to both this list and the original asker of the question.

Damien Hall
University of Pennsylvania

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Message 2: Meaning of 'Bobonkt'
Date: 02-Jul-2006
From: Carlota Smith <carlotasmithmail.utexas.edu>
Subject: Meaning of 'Bobonkt'



Hi:

I am trying to find the meaning of a word used in the American West during the
civil was period: the word is bobonkt. It appeared in the following sentence in
a personal diary from 1863:

I went to get some bobonkt

so it's apparently a mass noun. I have looked in dictionaries that I found in
the library, including the OED, and on Google, without success.

I'd appreciate any suggestions as to the word's meaning, and of where to look
for the word.

Thank you
Carlota Smith
--

Carlota S. Smith
Centennial Professor of Linguistics
Dept of Linguistics
University of Texas
Austin, Tx 78712-1196

Linguistic Field(s): Lexicography

Subject Language(s): English (eng)

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