[Ads-l] most important unresolved English etymologies?

[Jonathan Lighter]

And "snarky."

JL

On Sat, Feb 7, 2026 at 7:20 PM Stephen Goranson <
00001dd3d6fc15d3-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:

> Thanks all.
> On gizmo/gismo, there is more to be done, though this list has several
> years earlier citations than OED and Green's.
> My Navy officer Dad (d. 1960) spent all WWII in the Pacific and often used
> gizmo, long ago.
>
> American Speech had a follow-up reduced list by Sterling Eisiminger,
> ETYMOLOGY UNKNOWN: THE CREME DE LA. CREME DE LA CREME. In the Summer 1981
> issue of American Speech (56: 146-48)
>
> Anatoly Liberman—whose Oxford Etymologist blog column has gone silent—in
> General Linguistics 32.1 (1992) Etymological Studies, the 'Dregs,' offered
> "Modern English Words without Established Cognates outside English in The
> Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology," pages 24-35.
>
> My question was influenced by disputes on origins of older terms such as
> Essenes, Pharisees, Sadducees, Nazarenes, Ebionites, and changing/evolving
> senses of heresies, kinds, and minim. Epiphanius, Panarion, listed
> Nazarenes as a heresy, though, to others it meant Christians.
> Views of origins may have changed or been used in polemic. E.g., Albert
> Baumgarten, "The Name of the Pharisees," Journal of Biblical Literature 102
> (1983) 63-71. Their name could be interpreted either as separatists or as
> specifiers. And could be seen from different perspectives as positive or
> negative.
> So maybe I have overlapping questions:
> Which relatively modern English etymologies are mysteries that are
> especially interesting puzzles and/or which are cases the outcome or
> acceptance of which some have reason to care about?
> sg
>
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of
> Jonathan Lighter <00001aad181a2549-dmarc-request at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Sent: Saturday, February 7, 2026 5:21 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Subject: Re: most important unresolved English etymologies?
>
> And "skag." And "skank." And "skivvy." And "splib." And "spiffy." Also
> "schmo" and "schnook." And "snooker." And "zilch." And "barf." And "flub"
> and "flubdub."  And "fuddy-duddy." And "scad." Sorry to exploit my age
> here.
>
> JL
>
> On Sat, Feb 7, 2026 at 4:39 PM Shapiro, Fred <
> 00001ac016895344-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:
>
> > I suggest looking at the article titled "Etymology Unknown: Toward a
> > Master List of Words of Obscure Origin," published in American Speech,
> > Summer 1981 issue, pp. 146-148.
> >
> > Fred Shapiro
> > ________________________________
> > From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of
> > Stephen Goranson <00001dd3d6fc15d3-dmarc-request at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Sent: Friday, February 6, 2026 4:17 PM
> > To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Subject: most important unresolved English etymologies?
> >
> > Pop quiz [is that one of them?]
> > Long ago I asked a similar question, and one of the then more skilled
> > responders, Doug Wilson, advised to pay attention to the list
> discussions.
> > Given that my memory is limited, and (boring story) I lost some old
> > emails, and the available archives may not be complete or accurately
> > searchable, what say ye, if you care to venture, are a few of the chief
> > remaining English word origin puzzles?
> >
> > Stephen G
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society -
> >
> https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.americandialect.org%2F&data=05%7C02%7Cfred.shapiro%40YALE.EDU%7C44a28641aade4fc971a708de65c524b8%7Cdd8cbebb21394df8b4114e3e87abeb5c%7C0%7C0%7C639060094572436652%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=lH7iLgmzzQyaDzPXvva8GnFqPUsVAcc6dSgOA66lroI%3D&reserved=0
> > <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
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> 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