Cassidy

[Douglas G. Wilson]

>Specifically, are any of Cassidy's proposed etymologies of value? As an
>etymologist that's the question I'll have in mind as I read through his book

I agree with this approach. However I suggest that while finding a
plausible candidate etymon is easy (and sometimes fun) it is very
different from demonstrating a real historical connection!

>(e.g., for "kibosh" possibly from Gaelic words meaning "cap of death").

Ah, now here I can contribute an etymon ... with (AFAIK) just as much
solid corroboration as the "death-cap" hypothesis!

_Eastern Europe_ ("Lonely Planet" Phrasebook) (4th ed., 2007): p. 437:

<<

["Slovene": "in the bar"]

What would you like?
    Kaj bos^? .... kai bosh

[s^ = s-with-hacek]

 >>

The semantic development is obvious ("what will you have" > "what
have you" > "whatchamacallit"/"whatever") and it accounts not only
for "put the kibosh on it" = "put the whatever on it" but also for
both "that's the real kibosh" = "that's the real whatever" and
"that's just a lot of kibosh" = "that's just a lot of whatever".

Perhaps we can thank some forgotten Slovenian bartender in London,
ca. 1800. Or maybe the expression was picked up by reporters covering
the Congress of Laibach in 1821.

No doubt mainstream lexicographers (most of whom speak _no Slovene at
all_) will pooh-pooh this etymology. But it's so obvious! (^_^)

-- Doug Wilson


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