gam@amdahl.UUCP (Gordon A. Moffett) (10/03/84)
... so I was just flipping pages thru the dictionary, and came
across ``bozo'' (I was in the `B's then); the given etymology
was "unknown". Imagine so popular a word and Websters says it doesn't
know where it came from?
After looking thru two language books I found an etymology for
``bozo'': "from Sp. dial. `boso' (from `vosotros') = you (pl.),
which resembles a direct address" [such as `you guys'].
The definition given is "A man; fellow; guy; esp. a large, rough
man with more brawn than brains." (this is from 1960).
The earliest written reference noted in this "Dictionary of
American Slang" (Wentworth & Flexner) is in 1934. During WWII
it was popular in the service; in fact, definition 2 here is
"An army recruit".
It isn't clear how ``Bozo the Clown'' got his name out of all
this.
--
Gordon A. Moffett ...!{ihnp4,hplabs,amd,nsc}!amdahl!gam
[ The opinons expressed in this article are completely fictious. Any
similarity between these opinions and the opinions of any persons
living or dead is entirely coincidental. ]steiny@scc.UUCP (Don Steiny) (10/03/84)
> > After looking thru two language books I found an etymology for > ``bozo'': "from Sp. dial. `boso' (from `vosotros') = you (pl.), > which resembles a direct address" [such as `you guys']. > The definition given is "A man; fellow; guy; esp. a large, rough > man with more brawn than brains." (this is from 1960). > Very strange - my "American Heritage Dictionary" says Possibly from Spanish *bozo*, "down growing on the cheeks of youths." The "University of Chicago Spanish Dictionary" has "bozo", but not "boso" or anything close. Of course, it is probably dialectal and inflected, so that does not mean anything. The American Heritage Dictionary is newer and has much greater attention to etomology than Webster's. It has a dictionary of Proto Indo-European in the back and when possible gives the original Indo-European word that a word is a reflex of. -- scc!steiny Don Steiny - Personetics @ (408) 425-0382 109 Torrey Pine Terr. Santa Cruz, Calif. 95060 ihnp4!pesnta -\ fortune!idsvax -> scc!steiny ucbvax!twg -/
gino@voder.UUCP (Gino Bloch) (10/05/84)
[mange-moi] > The American Heritage Dictionary is newer and has much greater > attention to etomology than Webster's. It has a dictionary > of Proto Indo-European in the back and when possible gives > the original Indo-European word that a word is a reflex of. > Don Steiny - Personetics @ (408) 425-0382 I understand from a review (in Verbatim) that the new edition of the American Heritage dictionary has *DROPPED* the Indo-European dictionary. Sigh. BTW, I prefer the spelling `etymology'. -- Gene E. Bloch (...!nsc!voder!gino)
gam@amdahl.UUCP (Gordon A. Moffett) (10/08/84)
> scc!steiny Don Steiny - Personetics > > The American Heritage Dictionary is newer and has much greater > attention to etomology than Webster's. It has a dictionary > of Proto Indo-European in the back and when possible gives > the original Indo-European word that a word is a reflex of. I must agree that the American Heritage (AH) is better than the Webster's (fortunately AH is the ``standard issue'' dictionary at Amdahl). Are there any other recommendations for dictionaries out there? Is the Concise OED a reasably good subset of its parent? And what about dictionaries that include the WHOLE language: slang and obscene words? I have Flexner's ``Dictionary of American Slang'' but it is 20 years old already. Comments, commments? -- Gordon A. Moffett ...!{ihnp4,hplabs,amd,nsc}!amdahl!gam [ Only these only are only my only opinions, only. Thank you. ]