An Etymologist As Lord of the Flies, Or, Chicanery and Shenanigans All Over the Place »
Posted By Radiofreeeuropa 11 months ago in NewsChicanery was taken over from French in the late 17th century. Romance linguists argue endlessly over its origin, as becomes such a noun. In the past, I have occasionally deviated from the Germanic path. For example, I have ventured to deal with bigot, charlatan (both from French), and fiasco (from Italian, most likely via French). Naturally, I could only summarize other people’s opinions. Yet even that was not easy, for the literature on bigot and fiasco is vast (less so on charlatan) and hard to find. I probably would not have dared touch on chicanery if what I have read about it had not convinced me that the case is not entirely hopeless and if a possible clue from it had not led me to shenanigans, a word that seems to have perplexed even the boldest inventors of folk etymologies; my database contains zero citations on it (not a common case). The OED says: “Probably fanciful.” Although criticizing the OED smacks of blasphemy, I wince every time I see “fanciful” in it. No doubt, language is always at play, but a specialist’s duty consists in deciphering the rules of the game, so that it would perhaps have been better to say: “Origin unknown.” (For what is “fanciful”? An individual coinage? Coinages like boondoggle, Lilliputian, and quark—dozens of them—also have a base. They are not akin to babies’ babbling.)
The sound complexes shick and chick (I spell them as they would be pronounced in English) are easy prey for onomatopoeia. For example, verbs designating sharp noises (crack, click, flip, snap) and quick motions have been derived from them. Once such words come into being, they often develop figurative meanings, and their ties with sounds become harder to reconstruct.
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Radiofreeeuropa
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Radiofreeeuropa11 months ago
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Anatoly Liberman is the author of "Word Origins…And How We Know Them" as well as "An Analytic Dictionary of English Etymology: An Introduction".
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Since we are witnesses to so much chicanery, it seemed the word itself bore some interest. -
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qantumreflection11 months ago
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I must... call...oh gah...the urge so...compelling...but I must!
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I CALL SHENANIGANS ON THIS!
Phew! I couldnt help myself. I myself look at word/phrase origins as a bit of a "fanciful" hobby. If this gave you a chuckle or even the merest thought of a smile, I claim victory. If not, foot powder for the awful deeat... ;) -
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