[Ads-l] "queer phiz," collocation before quiz

[Shapiro, Fred]

Would this be the first portmanteau word in the English language ?

Fred Shapiro


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From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of Stephen Goranson <goranson at DUKE.EDU>
Sent: Thursday, May 9, 2024 6:17 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Subject: "queer phiz," collocation before quiz

1748, Tobias Smollett, The Adventures of Roderick Random, second ed., chapter xiii, page 97:

"....what is called a queer phiz, occasioned by a long chin, an hook nose, and high cheek bones, rendered him on the whole a very fit subject for mirth and pleasantry."

This, I suggest, is a forerunner of the contraction quiz.

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Stephen Goranson
Durham, NC



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