[Ads-l] Bozo as pejorative use of a PN?

[Peter Reitan]

The skit first performed about 1910.

There was at least one unrelated acrobat during the period whose name was Bozo, and the King of Serbia was named Bozo and occasionally in the news, but seems unrelated.
________________________________
From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of Stephen Goranson <goranson at DUKE.EDU>
Sent: Monday, December 21, 2020 8:03:04 AM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Subject: Bozo as pejorative use of a PN?

---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Poster:       Stephen Goranson <goranson at DUKE.EDU>
Subject:      Bozo as pejorative use of a PN?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Charlie Chaplin performed in "The New Janitor" in 1914.
In 1916 a play with the same title, the lead character is Bozo.
Since the word bozo, afaik, it attested only later, might this be an unfrie=
ndly borrowing of an eastern european PN?

Stephen G.

https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/readex/doc?p=3DEANX&sort=3DYMD_date%3AA&f=
ld-base-0=3Dalltext&val-base-0=3D%22bozo%20the%20janitor%22&val-database-0=
=3D&fld-database-0=3Ddatabase&fld-nav-0=3DYMD_date&val-nav-0=3D&docref=3Dim=
age/v2%3A110C9BFA1F116650%40EANX-115C629FA449FA60%402421012-115C62A75730EB9=
0%4062-115C62BE638640E8%40An%2BOriginal%2BCharacter&firsthit=3Dyes

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

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