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Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 2
stranger
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OP
stranger
Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 2 |
Seeing today's word I immediatly thought of the word "hubbub" -"a confused sound of many voices; a tumult; uproar."
Could the origin of "hubbub" be "haboob"? A sandstorm is definitly a tumultuous uproar and can sound like many voices shouting!
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Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542 |
perhaps not -- AHD says: It has often been remarked that the early Celtic inhabitants of Britain contributed very little to the stock of English words. Perhaps this should not surprise us, given the difficult relations over the centuries between the people of Germanic stock and the people of Celtic stock in England and Ireland. It seems likely that a certain English contempt resides in the adoption of the word hubbub from a Celtic source, which is probably related to ub ub ubub, a Scots Gaelic interjection expressing contempt, or to abu, an ancient Irish war cry. In any case, hubbub was first recorded (1555) in the phrase Irish hubbub and meant “the confused shouting of a crowd.” In addition to the senses it has developed, hubbub was again used, possibly in an unflattering way, by the New England colonists as a term for a rambunctious game played by Native Americans.
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Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 2
stranger
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OP
stranger
Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 2 |
As I am descended from "early Celtic" stock I am pleased to learn that "hubbub" most probably originated with the Celts!
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Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 3,230
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 3,230 |
Remember that Brittany(nominally a part of France) is Celtic and a lot of words attrib to French are Celtic. Interesting use of "nominally" there. Are you using it in this sense (OED): "In name (but not in fact). Also in weakened sense: ostensibly, supposedly; in theory."? If so, I'd be wondering how much your membership of the Breton separatist movement cost you. Then of course, there's the matter of the vagueness of "a lot" - you'll have do to better than that. Examples, s'il du please.
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Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 2,154
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 2,154 |
Some examples would be great if you have any specific ones. I went to the Celtic Festival in Lorient years ago. I had no idea that both France and Spain had their own Celts - and their own bagpipes.
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