more information on the kibosh, qirbach, kurbash

[Stephen Goranson]

Thank you Joel, Victor, and Garson for additional evidence of knowledge
of the Korbadj (and related spellings) by speakers of English, not to mention
 French, Arabic, Turkish, ...
Below I reply to Michael Quimion and Doug Wilson.

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. It is
equally reasonable to infer from the two examples and the context that
Myers, the immigrant German (supposed) Jew, was merely referring to blows,
without the use of any implement.

May I put this further example of the term in evidence? It is in a squib
on page 7 of The Age of London of 7 December 1834 (a week after the
example about the case of the two chimney sweeps in the same paper, which
suggests the writer has picked up this new slang term). It is dense with
sarcasm and topical references but concerns a supposed insult to King
William IV by members of what I take to be the Reform party through a
demand that the King should appoint the ministers that they have
nominated, a direct challenge to the royal perogative: "The long-winded
impertinence of Messrs. TAYLOR, GALLOWAY, and Co., received as nice a
"kiboshing" from insulted Majesty as LACON himself could have penned."

I [SG] reply:
On the question of how well known was this stick or whip and its name, one does
 well to take into account the published evidence that some in England surely did
know precisely both. Also,  a rhinoceros or hippopotamus hide artifact could be
a memorable  souvenir or conversation piece for travelers returning to London. And it was the
 British, after all, who eventually banned "government by kurbash."  Further, people who are in
danger of being whipped tend to notice whips. And then, additionally, one could allow
for oral transmission, well attested, for example, by Rom influence on slang.. Plus, one
 could avoid straw man arguments and see that the word need not be extraordinarily well
known to fit the case. Indeed, that it was known by some and not known by others, helps explain,
along with the non-rhotic version of the name, as i wrote before, the eventual disappearance of
understanding the origin. I am as interested in the disappearance as in the origin. (My interest comes, in part,
from the Hebrew original of the name "Essenes" as a self-designationin some Qumran texts, and the
historical reasons some see it and some don't.)

As to the assertion that it is "equally reasonable" to regard the kibosh not as "implement" (singular)
but as "blows" (plural) I await  reasoning by which you find the options equal, why "put the kobosh
on/against" and "r[a]ise" the kibosh threatening to strike blows doesn't suggest in context an implement
for striking blows.
(Perhaps, in the 1836 Dickens case two were already exchanging fisticuffs when one was invited to escalate
and "put the kye-bosk [sic, though some  later editions change the spelling] on her, Mary!" The Dickens
 case may be less informative, though, than the helpful 1835 True Sun. I don't insist on this reading, but suggest
trying other texts.)


Doug Wilson wrote:
I think the person quoted here ("Myers") was an immigrant (a "German
Jew", says the text), with imperfect English. Possibly his use of
"kibosh" was aberrant or plain erroneous.

It is interesting that "put the kibosh on [someone]" is parallel to "put
the whip on [the horse etc.]" which was (I think) conventional usage of
the time. "Kibosh" [transitive verb] = "put the kibosh on" is also
parallel to "whip" [verb] = "put the whip on".

I think Myers was definitely a Jew (according to the article) and I
don't think anyone claimed otherwise. I don't think anyone suggested
that he was or might have been a chimney-sweep; rather it was suggested
that he had darkened his skin (and worn a turban), and had pretended to
be of some exotic nationality, presumably to improve his prospects as a
beggar.

Incidentally, from the context here I understand "naturalized" to mean
here essentially "converted from the Jewish religion [presumably to
Church of England]" although this may not have been the usual sense of
"naturalized" at the time.

Based on exactly the same newspaper article discussed above, I generated
(independently, recently) a different casual speculation ... for which I
can find no supporting evidence. "R[a]ise the kibosh against me" here
can be equated to "arouse the local people against me" or so ... which
evokes the name of Simon Caboche, a famous rabble-rouser in French
history. Another candidate for the [bottom of the?] list.

Of course somebody long ago (IIRC) suggested the etymon "caboche" =
"behead" reflected in the heraldic term "caboched"/"caboshed".

I think there are still several candidate etyma ... with the true one
perhaps yet to be discovered.

I reply:
With your second paragraph I agree completelly. The parallel of "put the kibosh on"
and "put the whip on" indeed suggests that the comparison with kibosh and whip merits attention.
The 1835 article is unclear on several points: e.g., one witness speaks of soot and another of a turban,
not necessarily at the same time. He seems, in the report, first to claim he was threatened
with blows then claims he was struck. But rather than being diverted by the article's ambiguities,
and rather than diversions to bring in unlikely reference to a French revolt of 1413--was Wellington
said in 1834 to have defeated Whigs by means of French rebels?!- let me
reaffirm my complete agreement with your second paragraph. I submit that the kibosh implement
 is that korbadj, kurbach, kourbach, qirbach, qurbash, courbache.

Stephen Goranson
http://www.duke.edu/~goranson

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