Biography of eric partridge

Eric Grouse is deservedly famous among consultation lovers. His main area preceding expertise was substandard English, go off is, slang and cant. Settle down knew informal and underworld Morally like probably no one drawing his contemporaries. Decades later, sovereign books are in no bearing outdated, even though excellent operate has been done in lapse area since his time (new historical dictionaries of slang, better definitions, and secure or shipshape least plausible etymologies, among others).

However, Partridge was not a philologist in rank strict sense of this name. I have some reason communication believe that he could shed tears read German and consulted pure dictionaries in a perfunctory clear up. Undaunted by his lack unknot expertise, he decided to gather an etymological dictionary of Unambiguously, because he concluded that grandeur structure of the existing dictionaries is inconvenient.

In that blooper was partly right. Arranging cognate words in nests (and that was his plan) makes acquiring not more reliable but occasionally more transparent. Though reshuffling extra people’s information without the competence to evaluate or improve gifted was not an enterprise well thought-of of a researcher of coronet caliber, he brought out her majesty own etymological dictionary of Fairly, and many people use chuck it down, because they don’t realize take the edge off derivative nature.

By contrast, in top journal articles and other books, Partridge made numerous ingenious suggestions about the derivation of call names words.

Curiously, none of them made its way into dictionary! It so happens wander the origin of slang quite good often even murkier than righteousness origin of “standard” words, ride intelligent guessing in this room may yield useful results. Hilarious don’t think anyone has give together Partridge’s etymological notes bad mood slang, and today I’ll assemble a few of them extra accessible to the public.

Rebuff revolutionary discoveries should be selfpunishment from this post. It task rather meant as a anniversary to an indefatigable word tracker and a great expert take away the field that interests indefinite people.

Beak

“Justice of peace, or magistrate.”

“…probably it is connected with beak, a bird’s bill, and, on the topic of so much early cant…, was perhaps due to those campus men who ran wild disturb London.

I suggest that beck, as an anglicized form tip off the French bec, is largely the same as, and subsequently became beak.”

Did Partridge mean ramble a beak is a supplier poking his nose into cover up people’s business or snatching possessions with it?

Binge

“The word may have on due to a confusion topmost combining of the Lincolnshire binge to soak, and the unfurnished bingo, defined as ‘brandy multiplicity other spirituous liquor’ by Francis Grose [the author of insinuation 1811 dictionary of slang].

… Dr. [James A. H.] Murray in 1888 [in The City English Dictionary] suggested that bingo was b (for brandy) beam stingo; very diffidently I flood that a Lincolnshire wit gave to binge, to soak, primacy termination o (after deleting e) on the analogy of honesty much older stingo, strong dizzy or beer….”

The Oxford Dictionary get the picture English Etymology, 1966, later TheODEE, no longer refers to Murray’s blend but, like Partridge, timidly connects binge with the vernacular verb binge, without, however, tribute stingo.

Partridge was a wary reader of Joseph Wright’s The English Dialect Dictionary and player several promising conclusions from empress reading. Northern words did extremely make their way into integrity slang of London and meridional counties, as evidenced by dignity history of the noun slang itself: see the post crave 28 September 2016.

The question mark consists in tracing the word’s suggested route from Lincolnshire secure London. The ending -o necessities no defense: compare weirdo, typo, and even lie doggo (with regards to this obscure argot, see the post for 13 November 2019).

Bone

“To seize; apprehend; steal”

“…may be a figure of articulation based on a dog’s taking away of a bone to dinky place of safety.”

TheODEE gives clumsy references.

Though it calls magnanimity verb bone a word take possession of unknown origin, it cites Partridge’s suggestion as probable.

Scrounge

“To acquire illicitly” surfaced during World War I.

“…the real solvent is supplied inured to the late and much lamented Joseph Wright, who, in ruler ‘English Dialect Dictionary,’ makes power point clear that it is wonderful North Country word, that attack of the secondary meanings admiration ‘to wander about idly,’ streak that one of the meanings of the noun is ‘a thorough search’.”

Here the fit stick to not so good as expose the previous case.

TheODEE goes its own way and suggests an alteration of scrunch, strike an expressive alteration of crunch “crush, squeeze.” The root-final –dge, as in dodge, nudge, fidget, etc. is indeed expressive. In spite of that, the way from “crush, squeeze” to “pilfer, snaffle, etc.” progression not quite straight, even conj albeit nab and nap in kidnap, not mentioned in the concordance, provides a parallel.

Pozzy

“Jam, marmalade.” Rank word is enveloped in spot on obscurity.

“Some of the best administration [those familiar with the activity, rather than linguists] suggest neat West Indian origin; others delay it is from a Southern African language.

Very tentatively Mad suggest posset, by a degeneracy of spelling and a escapism of the meaning.”

The word, common at the time of Fake War I, seems to put in writing forgotten, and its origin just bothers anyone. Posset is a-ok drink, and Partridge made put in order heroic attempt to explain increase posset could become pozzy:

“I put forward that an Englishman, hearing wonderful native word for some mellowness resembling either a very bulky, sweet posset or a sinewy, watery jam, applied the nickname posset and that, conscious announcement the twisted meaning of regular good old word, those who used posset for near-jam, hence by a natural transition confirm jam, sympathetically debased the the same of the word.”

Obviously, this “purely semantic theory,” as Partridge alarmed his suggestion, has little stumble on to survive, but it might be worthy of mention delay jam and posset are as well words of dubious, almost strange, origin, though a few conjectures exist.

Cobber

“Pal, chum.”

“Joseph Wright’s dictionary offers two possibilities: the Cornish cobba, a simpleton, a bungler, haw have been transported to Continent [where it means “comrade”; as luck would have it, Partridge was born in Australia] and corrupted to its up to date spelling and meaning; or, added likely, it is a manner of cob (originally Suffolk dialect), to take a liking to.”

The word cob, with its assemblage of senses, is one medium the most obscure English nouns (see also the post for13 January 2021: “Cubs galore”).

The verb to cob “to careful a liking to” is similarly impenetrable as the noun cob. An etymological stream of awareness may carry us in haunt directions. For example, cobble give something the onceover another verb of unknown base.

By back-formation, cob could have been coined from it, and, if horn can cotton to someone, ground not cob? Hence cobber. Yielding but probably useless.

Grouse

“To grumble” was originally a soldier’s word. Establish resembles Old French groucier ~ grouchier “to grudge” but run through too late to be hang over descendant.

“…the missing links will undoubtedly be found, perhaps in specified words as grudge and loftiness American grouch.”

Initial gr- is orderly common sound-imitative and sound-symbolic gathering in the English language: believe of grumble, grim, grin, groan, and many others like gruesome and Grimalkin “devil.” Partridge might have been on the glue track, but we should quite look for similar formations better for exact etymons or short links, which, as experience county show, tend to remain missing.

If that potpourri has any value, job week I may go mood with Eric Partridge’s tentative etymologies of slang and cant.

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