putting kibosh questions

[Douglas G. Wilson]

Stephen Goranson wrote:
> ....
> As you know, on the etymology of kibosh there is no consensus. And kibosh evidently gained additional senses over the years.
> Kibosh is known in English from at least 1834, often in "put the kibosh on." Another possibly early use (unconfirmed newspaperarchive preview--could Sam Clements or another confirm this?)):
> True Sun [London] May 15, 1835 "They say so to rise [raise?] the kibosh against me, and my wife."
> In Notes & Queries (1948 p.3460) "cosh" meaning "stick" is listed among chimney-sweep slang; that word is also spelled 'kosh" (Rom or Turkish). A stick, nightstick, life-preserver, seemed a plausible fit, except for a problem getting from kosh to kibosh, an unlikely infix.There is, however, another named stick or whip known to British colonialists.
> For example in Sultan to Sultan: Adventures among the Masai and other Tribes of East Africa by M. French-Sheldon (London,1892) page 200:
> "Witnessing the event, Hamidi's _kibosh_ (rhinoceros-hide stick) went whistling through the air as he impulsively plunged through the stream to chastise the frightened _askari_."
> 1892 might seem a bit late; but there are related earlier mentions in England, and text with both kibosh and the stick or whip mentioned.).
> The 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica (15: 949):
> KURBASH, or KOURBASH (from the Arabic qurbash, a whip; Turkish qirbach; and French courbache), a whip or strap about a yard in length, made of the hide of the hippopotamus or rhinoceros. It is an instrument of torture used in various Mahommedan countries, especially in the Turkish empire. "Government by kurbash" denotes the oppression of a people by the constant abuse of the kurbash....
>
> Once I found this link, I was surprised it had not--to my knowledge-- been suggested as the etymology before. Has it been? Is this etymology plausible?
>
--

As plausible as any I've seen, I think. Add it to the list of candidates!

 From G-books: 1842: <<The recent atrocities committed in Damascus, on
the unfortunate Jews of that city, no sooner were made known in England,
than the outrages perpetrated on these victims of fanaticism and
rapacity, called forth the general indignation of the press and people
of this country, and the sufferings of these poor strangers, promptly
awakened the sympathies of Englishmen of all parties. The victims of
oriental cruelty, were indeed few in comparison with those of Irish
fanaticism, the whole number of persons subjected to the torture of the
"courbash," in Damascus, did not constitute one-thousandth part of the
numbers tied up to the triangles and tortured with the scourge, or
tormented with the pitch-caps, in the Irish prisons and provosts, in the
year 1798.>>

[Incidentally I think the pitch-cap mentioned here is the referent of
the well-known Irish candidate-etymon according to one variant
hypothesis. Apparently a cap was lined with hot pitch and put on the
victim, then (depending on the account) either (1) left on as an
uncomfortable and undignified nuisance, or (2) pulled off, painfully
taking hair with it and perhaps leaving burns and wounds, or (3)
ignited, causing burns and likely death. I suppose this was modeled on a
primitive treatment for favus or ringworm or something like that. I deny
any expertise.]

-- Doug Wilson

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