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Monday, April 24, 2006

Crying Wolof about beer

Here's a real howler: The word "booze" comes from the Nubian "boosa," a type of strong beer. No, it doesn't, no matter how many unreliable sources perpetuate it.

The Middle English Dictionary dates the verb booze to ca1325. The Oxford English Dictionary concurs and marks it as apparently from Middle Dutch. There's a German verb, bausen, with the same meaning. OED ultimately suggests booze is "directly related to buise a large drinking-vessel."

Rule: Never attribute to exotics what is best credited to your neighbors. (Source Link)

Filed under Language and Languages • Quibbling • Rules • (2) Comments • Permalink

How about providing a link or two for readers who aren’t hep to the expression “crying Wolof”?
Posted by Ben Zimmer on  04/24  at  09:49 PM
Because when you link it back to the source every time you use it, you decrease its chance of success in the wild. Self-consciousness is the enemy of propagation.
Posted by Grant Barrett on  04/24  at  10:30 PM

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