hobo synonymous with panhandler or beggar

[Douglas G. Wilson]

On 4/2/2012 1:34 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society<ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter<wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: hobo synonymous with panhandler or beggar
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> As good a guess as any.  It would connect it to (orig. Eng. dial.) "bo,"
> 'boy, usu. in direct address.'
>
> HDAS/OED cites begin only in 1889, from the Northwest. By the early
> '90s "hobo" seems to have been fairly current, though not outside railroad
> and hobo circles.
>
> JL
>
> On Mon, Apr 2, 2012 at 12:23 PM, Stephen Goranson<goranson at duke.edu>  wrote:
>
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>> Sender:       American Dialect Society<ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       Stephen Goranson<goranson at DUKE.EDU>
>> Subject:      Re: hobo synonymous with panhandler or beggar
>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> JL wrote, inter alia:
>>
>> ....It's especially interesting since the ety. of "hobo" remains
>> unknown.....
>>
>> ****
>>
>> For what it may be worth, the earliest known usage--at least the earliest
>> one mentioned on ads-l--of "hobo" offers a (proposed) etymology.
>>
>> St. Paul daily globe., November 30, 1885, Page 8, Image 9 col. 1 -2
>>
>> http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn90059522/1885-11-30/ed-1/seq-9/;words=tramp+Hobo+HOBO+Tramp?date1=1836&rows=20&searchType=advanced&proxdistance=5&date2=1885&ortext=&proxtext=tramp+hobo&phrasetext=&andtext=&dateFilterType=yearRange&index=0
>>
>> After mention of Hennepin County, etc., in  the section "thieves'
>> Vocabulary":
>>
>> ....An overcoat is a "Ben." Hobo is a call to attract attention, the same
>> as Hello in the average citizen's vernacular. It is pronounced with the
>> long sound of the vowel, o, in both syllables, and is sometimes uttered
>> with the aspirate omitted, as "Obo," and is the shibboleth of the
>> fraternity of bums and crooks. It s now commonly applied by them as a
>> generic term to designate he order....
--

But one might suspect some connection with earlier "ho-boy" etc. (in
HDAS). The verb entry surely looks like it could be related to "hobo".
The noun means "latrine cleaner" or so: were such persons
often/stereotypically migrant workers? And of course "hoboy" =
"hautbois" = "oboe" (musical instrument): any relation? I surely don't know.

-- Doug Wilson

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