"prissy," 1842 (?)

[Arnold M. Zwicky]

On Jul 20, 2008, at 9:40 AM, Doug Wilson wrote:
>>

> The usual "Prissy" at the time apparently was a female name (=
> Priscilla, I suppose).

yes, Priscilla.  (a local restaurant has a waitress named Priscilla,
called Prissy.)

i'd always thought that this name was a likely source of
"prissy" (with its feminine/effeminate connotations).  another
adaptation of personal names to identify types.  goodness knows how to
verify that, of course.  (the OED "prim" + "sissy" proposal seems even
harder to verify.)

arnold

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