648: kibosh Sep 16, 2016

Usually on this blog, etymology is presented in a very matter-of-fact way. The problem with that is much like any social science, what is understood or believed changes over time with new information and new ways to think. For over 150, specialists struggled with how to analyze 'kibosh', which was used often among lower-class English people, featuring in a work by Charles Dickens in 1836. First, people thought that it was Yiddish, but there is no sign of a Yiddish source. Later, others thought that the word came from the Irish, 'caidhp bhais' meaning 'coif of death', and was headgear worn by those being put to death. This is now not considered plausible either, with little evidence of that usage, and no reference of the word until much later than 1836.