Kit and caboodle

[Paul Johnston]

Is there a Dutch collective noun *geboedel", which would be even
closer, if it exists?

Paul Johnston
On May 15, 2007, at 12:40 PM, Arnold M. Zwicky wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Arnold M. Zwicky" <zwicky at CSLI.STANFORD.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: Kit and caboodle
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> ---------
>
> On May 15, 2007, at 9:19 AM, Jim Landau wrote:
>
>> My daughter asked me for information on the origin of the phrase "kit
>> and caboodle".  Can anybody help
>
> the OED (also Evan Morris's Word Detective) identifies the "kit" part
> as meaning a collection of articles (orig. a soldier's articles,
> carried in, yes, a kit bag) and the "caboodle" (also "kerboodle" and
> just plain "boodle") part as built on "boodle" (U.S. slang) 'crowd,
> pack, lot', which possibly might be related to dutch "boedel"
> 'estate, possession, inheritance, stock'.
>
> so: partly straightforward, partly obscure.
>
> arnold
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org