Fiji zigaboo

[Wilson Gray]

"Jigwalk"  + a modification of "jakewalk," perhaps?

-Wilson

On 3/29/07, Douglas G. Wilson <douglas at nb.net> wrote:
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Douglas G. Wilson" <douglas at NB.NET>
> Subject:      Re: Fiji zigaboo
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> >The HDAS files show a number of _zigaboos_ from the 1920s on as an exact
> >synonym of "jigaboo."  The ex. are notably Southern, far more than
> >"jigaboo." "Zigaboo" (occas. shortened to "zig") is no longer common.
> >
> >   The alteration of  / J ~ z / has always stfruck me as unusual and
> > interesting.  Does it suggest a / Z / in the etymon ?  In some dialect of
> > Italian or another immigrant language ?
>
> Cf. "jillion"/"zillion".
>
> Maybe it's sort of arbitrary.
>
> "Jigaboo" looks like an alteration of "bugaboo" and I speculate that's all
> it was in the 1911 song title ... although one can also postulate an
> intentional -- probably not explicit -- evocation of "jig[walk]".
>
> There were other songs along the same line, one called (IIRC) "The Boogie
> Boo Man".
>
> In the 1920's "jigaboo" in the racial sense could have been a fanciful
> elaboration of "jig[walk]" ... perhaps suggested by the song.
>
> One can imagine a development of "zigaboo" < "zig" < "zigane" = "gypsy"
> modeled on "jigaboo" < "jig" ... but I really really doubt it.
>
> I suspect "zigaboo" < "jigaboo"; no exact explanation is obvious to me however.
>
> And where did "jigwalk" come from?
>
> -- Doug Wilson
>
>
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