Etymology of Expressions
compiled by Joanna Waugh

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The following is an etymology of expressions in use during the Georgian, Regency and early Victorian periods:

ahem - c. 1765

bah --c. 1600

balderdash – c.1675

barmy -- c. 1600
beastly – c. 1200

begad - c. 1600

blast and bugger your eyes -- c. 1793

blasted – (damned) c. 1600
bleater -- 17th - early 19th C.

blister it -- c. 1840

bloody (very) --mid 17th - 18th C.

bloody (damned) - c. 1670
botheration – c. 1835

bravo - c. 1765

brava - c. 1805

bugger (noun) -- c. 1719
by (Saint) George –
c. 1719
by gum –
c. 1825
by Jove –
c. 1570
by the bye – c. 18th C.
capital –
c. 1760
cheeky –
c. 1830
cheerio –
c. 1910
confound it –
c. 1850

criminy - c. 1700
daft – c. 1450

damned -- from 16th C.
damnable – from 16th C.
damnation – c. 1630

dang -- c. 1790
darling (n) c. 900 (adj) c. 1510

darn - c. 1790

darned - c. 1815

dear -- c. 1675
dash my wig – c. 1810

dem/demned (damn/damned) -- from late 17th C.

demme (damn me) -- c. 1753

deuced (damned) -- c. 1785
devil a bit –
after 1750
devilish –
c. 1450
devil of a... – c. 1750
devil take it – from 16th C.
devil to pay – from 15th C.

dickens (What the dickens?) - late 1600
drat –
c. 1815
egad -- c. 1675

eureka - c. 1570

excelsior - c. 1780
fancy that – c. 1834

fiddle-de-dee - c. 1785

fiddle faddle – from 18th C.
fiddlesticks – from 17th C.

frigging (exceedingly)-- c. 1820
frightfully – c. 1830

fudge - c. 1770

fun (joke) c. 1835

fustian (bombast) -- from late 18th C.
gads -- from 17th C.

gadzooks -- c. 1655

gammon (nonsense) from 1825
ghastly – c. 1325

glory be - c. 1820

goody - c. 1800

golly - c. 1775
good gracious –
from 18th C.
goodness! –
mid 19th C.

gosh - c. 1760

go to the devil – from 14th C.
gracious – from 18th C.

gracious alive! -- mid 18th C.
gracious me – from 19th

hallo -- c. 1570

halloo -- c. 1700

hell -- c. 1600
hellfire -- before 1760
honey – 19th C.
humbug –
c. 1740-54

hurrah -- c. 1690

huzzah -- c. 1595

hurray/hooray -- c. 1800

I’ll be bound – c. 1530
I say –
from 17th C.
Jupiter - from 17th C.

kiss my ass -- c. 1705
la –
from 16th C.
lawks – c, 1765

lo and behold -- by 1810
lud! –
ca 1720-1850

mind (note what I say) -- from 1806

oh! - c. 1550

oh-oh -- c. 1730
outside of enough –
c. 1811 (check out this article about its use.)
pah -- c. 1600

pish -- c. 1595

pooh -- c. 1600

pshaw -- c. 1675
(all) right –
c. 1837
right you are –
c. 1865
ring a peal – 18th -- mid 19th C
rot it –
17th -- 18th C.

rubbish -- c. 1630
shag –
c. 1790

shit -- c. 1510
sirrah –
from 16th C.
smashing –
c. 1850

son of a bitch (interjection) by 1675

son of a bitch (noun) c. 1710

son of a gun -- c. 1710

sweetheart – c. 1290

sweetie -- c. 1800

sweetikins -- c. 1600
sweeting –
c. 1350

tallyho - c. 1770

tosh - (nonsense) c. 1530

What (how) the devil – from 17th C.

zooks - c. 1635

zounds - c. 1600


Resources:
A Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, by Eric Partridge, MacMillan Company, 1970
English Through the Ages, by William Brohaugh, Writer’s Digest Books, 1998
Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, Tenth Edition, 1993


Contractions

(taken from English Through the Ages, by William Brohaugh, Writer’s Digest Books, 1998)


ain’t – in use by 1780

‘cause (because) in use by 1450

can’t – by 1655

couldn’t – by 1650

don’t – c. 1640

e’en (even) – c. 1300

e’er (ever) – c. 1300

‘em (them) – c. 1100

I’d – c. 1655

I’ll – c. 1570

I’m – c. 1595

I’ve – c. 1745

it’s – c. 1625

ma’am – c. 1670

mustn’t – c. 1745

ne’er (never) – c. 1300

o’ (of) – c. 1300

o’clock – c. 1720

shan’t – c. 1655

she’d – c. 1745

she’ll – c. 1595

shouldn’t – c. 1850

‘tain’t – c. 1820

they’d – c. 1680

they’ll – c. 1615

they’re – c. 1595

they’ve – c. 1615

tone (the one) – c. 1350

tother (the other) – c. 1350

‘twas – c. 1590

‘tween – c. 1300

‘twere – c. 1590

‘twixt – c. 1350

wasn’t – c. 1850

we’d – c. 1605

we’ll – c. 1580

we’ve – c. 1745

who’d – c. 1640

won’t – c. 1655

wouldn’t – c. 1830

you’d – c. 1605

you’ll – c. 1595

you’re – c. 1595

you’ve – c. 1695


 

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