Jasm/Jism/Gism

[Douglas G. Wilson]

>         On the other hand, gism/jasm must have come from
> somewhere.  Thoughts?

There are various hypotheses; obviously most of them are false.

Speculation (I forget whose, not mine): "jism" from English dialect
"chissom" = "sprout", "jasm" from "jism" by some unexplained(?) process.

Speculation (mine): "jism" and "jasm" (and "jesum" too!) from the
seldom-seen word "orgiasm".

Speculation (mine): "jizzum" (maybe pseudo-Latinized) from (*)"jizz"
or so, a humorous or dialectal version of "juice".

Speculation (mine): "jism" OR "jasm" [whichever was first] >
(*)"jism-jasm" or so [cf. "mish-mash", "jim-jams", "fiddle-faddle",
etc.] > "jasm" OR "jism" [whichever wasn't first]

And of course there's Cassidy's Irish derivation.

Etc.

Note that I do not insist that any of these notions is certain, or
even highly probable. Perhaps some transitional form will show up to
support one or the other. Maybe the truth is something nobody has thought of.

It is my suspicion that the earlier sense was not "semen" but rather
the abstract quality, say "vigor" or "spirit". Cf. "spunk", "mettle".
Once a word is taken to mean specifically "semen", it would be hard
to use it politely, but once (e.g.) "spunk" is established in a
polite sense one need have no qualms about referring to one's child's
spunk or one's mother's spunk, even if one is fully aware that
"spunk" can mean "semen".

-- Doug Wilson


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