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.)

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org



More information about the Ads-l mailing list