Cassidy

[Wilson Gray]

Personally, I think that it's obvious that "kibosh" comes from
Yiddish. The analysis is clear. I'm familiar with the term. Yet, I
know that it's not BE. That leaves Yiddish. Q.E.D. :-)

-Wilson

On 10/16/07, Douglas G. Wilson <douglas at nb.net> wrote:
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> Poster:       "Douglas G. Wilson" <douglas at NB.NET>
> Subject:      Re: Cassidy
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>
> >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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All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
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                                              -Sam'l Clemens

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