[Ads-l] Honyock

Jonathan Lighter wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM
Sat May 27 18:43:13 UTC 2017


> Any relation to “honky”?

No, but "honky" is pretty clearly from "hunky" ('Hungarian or Slavic
immigrant.')

JL

On Thu, May 25, 2017 at 11:01 PM, Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at gmail.com> wrote:

> To me, huniak is a pseudo-Rusyn term for a Hungarian.
>
> On May 25, 2017 10:27 PM, "Peter Reitan" <pjreitan at hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> > Saw this on a forum on WordWizard.com:
> >
> >
> > hunyak / honyock(er)
> >
> > Wed Feb 18, 2004 5:34 pm
> >
> > From the OED.
> >
> > hunyak (_______). U.S. Also honyock, -er.
> > [f. Hungarian a. and n. after Polack.]
> > = hunk n.3 (See also quot. 1941.)
> > Only in disparaging use.
> > 1911 W. P. Dillingham Dict. Races 92 Magyar, Hungarrian Hun, or Hunyak in
> > popular language.
> > 1919 S. Lewis Free Air (1924) ix. 94, I could buy out half these
> > Honyockers!
> > 1938 ‘E. Queen’ Four of Hearts (1939) 17 Tossing away the stockholders’
> > dough like a hunyak on Saturday night.
> > 1941 Sat. Even. Post 7 June 29/1 ‘Honyocks’, the Yankee neighbors called
> > them [sc. immigrants from Central Europe]. ‘Honyocker’ came to
> > be..generally applied to any farmer who tries to raise grain and
> livestock
> > in the high prairies of the Northwest.
> > ________________________________
> > From: Shawnee Moon<mailto:moon.shawnee at GMAIL.COM>
> > Sent: ‎5/‎25/‎2017 18:58
> > To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU<mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Subject: Honyock
> >
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Shawnee Moon <moon.shawnee at GMAIL.COM>
> > Subject:      Honyock
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > -------------------
> >
> > Or  hunyack, honyak, honyocker, huniak, hunyok, honyok, hunyak
> >
> > My boyfriend called someone up the street a honyocker.  Wikipedia has a
> > coup=
> > le theories on its origin. Do any of you have insight you can share?
> >
> > I just found it peculiar.
> >
> > ~Shawnee Moon=20
> >
> > Mailed from the Moon =F0=9F=8C=9C=
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



-- 
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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



More information about the Ads-l mailing list