Antedating of "oojah" and "oojahkapivi"
W Brewer
brewerwa at GMAIL.COM
Mon Oct 21 11:41:28 UTC 2013
WB: Achi Baba < Turkish <Alcitepe> (with c-cedilla & dotless-eye) lit.
<<plaster hill>>.
Turkish <alci> 'plaster' sounds like <Hajji>, as in <Hajji Baba>, with
aitch-dropping. <'Ajji> replaced by more familiar <Archie> (non-rhotic),
whence A(r)chi(e) Baba. (N.b. pun in the 1954 film, where Hajji Baba was a
barber.)
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