more information on the kibosh, qirbach, kurbash

[George Thompson]

"The whip, and its name, were hardly well-known even among educated people in 1835."

On the other hand, the common people have their own knowledge.  Men from the cockney district may have been in Egypt & the Near East as soldiers or seamen, and seen the whip carried and used.

GAT


George A. Thompson
Author of A Documentary History of "The African Theatre", Northwestern Univ. Pr., 1998, but nothing much lately.

----- Original Message -----
From: Michael Quinion <wordseditor at worldwidewords.org>
Date: Tuesday, June 22, 2010 10:29 am
Subject: Re: more information on the kibosh, qirbach, kurbash
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU

> > Given the claim that he was threatened and struck with the kibosh, and
> > given the defendant's reply that he finds them disagreeable, "but to
> talk
> > of blows it quite ridiculous," we can conclude that "the kibosh" was
> an
> > instrument used for striking blows--exactly as the kurbach, kourbach,
> > qirbach, qurbash, courbache.
>
> 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."
>
> --
> Michael Quinion
> Editor, World Wide Words
> Web: http://www.worldwidewords.org
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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