more information on the kibosh, qirbach, kurbash

[Michael Quinion]

Replying to Stephen Goranson's comments:

I take your point, reinforced by George Thompson's note, that the word,
and perhaps even one of the whips, might have been brought back by a
sailor or other traveller from the Middle East, and that its name might
have got into London street slang that way.

If we assume that the court report was accurate, the German Jew was not a
fluent English speaker; he refers once to "rise the kibosh against me" and
later "to give the kibosh against me". This might literally be a reference
to a whip, or it might be as figurative as "raise Cain" or a slang version
of "give me a beating". It is highly probable that he picked up the slang
phrase by hearing others use it and all the early evidence shows that it
had already evolved into a figurative reference. We can't conclude from
what he is reported to have said, or from any of the other early cases,
that a physical implement was involved in the purported attacks or that a
Turkish whip was the genesis of the expression.

It's an intriging suggestion, though that's all it can be without more
evidence.

--
Michael Quinion
Editor, World Wide Words
Web: http://www.worldwidewords.org

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