"courbash", 1835 [Was: putting kibosh questions]

[Joel S. Berson]

"courbash" can be found by EAN, whose search engine did not reveal to
me "kibosh", "koubash", or "kurbash".

1835 July 15, the Rhode-Island Republican, page 2 (at least three
times, once misspelled).  An article titled "Horrors of the Cario
[sic] Lunatic Asylum."

"... the keeper armed himself with a courbash, (a whip, made of one
solid thong of the hide of the hipdopotamus,) ..." [sic; inverted "p"].

And Doug's 1842 citation below is in the OED.

Joel


At 6/18/2010 12:02 AM, Douglas G. Wilson wrote:
>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
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org