more information on the kibosh, qirbach, kurbash

[Garson O'Toole]

There is a whip that is referred to by the name Korbadj, and Google
Books contains multiple matches for this term starting in 1819.
Apparently courbash and Korbadj are alternate spellings. Below are
three excerpts from an 1819 book by John Lewis Burckhardt. The second
excerpt describes how a Korbadj is created. The book claims that the
whip was widely used in Egypt and was "the dread of every servant and
peasant." Parts of the book were reprinted in The Edinburgh magazine
in 1820. The book was also reviewed in The Literary Gazette (London)
in 1820. Both periodicals mentioned the Korbadj.

Cite: 1819, Travels in Nubia by John Lewis Burckhardt, Page 67, 283,
333, and other Pages, John Murray, London. (Google Books full view)

The whips known in the East under the name of Korbadj, are made of the
skin of the hippopotamus, and form an article of commerce with the
Sennaar and Darfour caravans.
…
The whips called Korbadj (the text contains a script that cannot be
depicted here), which are formed of their skins, are made at Sennaar,
and on the Nile, above that place, immediately after being taken off,
the skin is cut into narrow strips, about five or six feet in length,
gradually tapering to a point: each strip is then rolled up, so that
the edges unite and form a pipe, in which state it is tied fast and
left to dry in the sun. In order to render these whips pliable, they
must be rubbed with butter or grease. At Shendy they are sold at the
rate of twelve or sixteen for a Spanish dollar; in Egypt, where they
are in general use, and the dread of every servant and peasant, they
are worth from half a dollar, to a dollar each. In colder climates,
even in Syria, they become brittle, crack, and lose their elasticity.
...
At Shendy I often overheard my companions, who, although savage
enough, were certainly not of the worst class of slave-merchants, say
to each other, when a slave had behaved ill, and they were afraid of
punishing him, "Let him only pass Berber, and the Korbadj will soon
teach him obedience."

http://books.google.com/books?id=4q4f7nas7JIC&q=korbadj#v=snippet&q=korbadj&f=false

Garson

On Tue, Jun 22, 2010 at 7:19 PM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> Subject:      Re: more information on the kibosh, qirbach, kurbash
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> At 6/22/2010 05:36 PM, victor steinbok wrote:
>>There is an 1830 NY Med Journal as well. I'll post it later--I don't
>>want to start the search from scratch on a different computer, so I'll
>>pick it up when I get back to mine. The reference is to travels in the
>>Middle East. There is no explanatory note on the term either which
>>hardly suggests that it was "hardly well-known".
>
> The above seems to be about R. R. Madden, author of the two books I
> noted -- which were published in 1829 and 1830, thus only a short
> while before the NY Med Journal.  Interestingly, that article says
> "At Cairo, Mr. Madden visited the lunatic asylum ..." (p. 408).  The
> quotation I found via EAN (earlier message here) was --
>
>>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"].
>
> Thus I surmise the RI Republican article was taken from one of
> Madden's books, 5 or 6 years after publication.
>
> Does all this indicate wide appeal of works about the Near East, and
> wide knowledge of the "courbash"?  A purely speculative question,
> meant to induce further investigation by others than myself.  :-)
>
> Joel
>
>
>>VS-)
>>
>>On Tue, Jun 22, 2010 at 4:28 PM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
>> >
>> > At 6/22/2010 10:26 AM, Michael Quinion wrote:
>> >>This new early example of the term is extremely interesting. However, I'm
>> >>not persuaded that the suggested origin in a Middle Eastern instrument of
>> >>torture can be supported by it. It is clear from the earliest examples
>> >>that "kibosh" was a slang term of the London streets. The whip, and its
>> >>name, were hardly well-known even among educated people in 1835.
>> >
>> > Google Books does yield a few hits from British books and magazines
>> > for "courbash" between 1829 and 1835  -- and none any earlier.  (I
>> > have not tried to vet all these dates, and some, particularly the
>> > journals, may be false.)  Two are books by Richard Robert
>> > Madden.  The Westminster Review article, which is Oct. 1830, is
>> > titled "Novels and Travels in Turkey" and is a review of four books,
>> > one being one of Madden's books.
>> >
>> > But who am I to say whether this made "courbash" common among
>> Cockneys by 1835.
>> >
>> > Joel
>>
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>
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