Liberal Dictionary English Dictionary
Hobson-Jobson [hob-suh n-job-suh n] ExamplesWord Origin noun
- the alteration of a word or phrase borrowed from a foreign language to accord more closely with the phonological and lexical patterns of the borrowing language, as in English hoosegow from Spanish juzgado.
Origin of Hobson-Jobson 1625–35; Indian English rendering of Arabic yā Ḥasan, yā Husayn lament uttered during taʿziyah; an example of such an alteration Examples from the Web for hobson-jobson Historical Examples of hobson-jobson
I’m going to dress and put an end to this Hobson-Jobson flummery!
Aylward Edward Dingle
It comes, by the law of Hobson-Jobson, from the French carriole.
Henry L. Mencken
Jerked beef came from the Spanish charqui by the law of Hobson-Jobson.
Henry L. Mencken
Hobson-jobson, hob′son-job′son, n. a native festal excitement, esp.
Chambers’s Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 2 of 4: E-M)
Various
The law of Hobson-Jobson made changes in other Indian names, sometimes complete and sometimes only partial.
Henry L. Mencken
British Dictionary definitions for hobson-jobson hobson-jobson noun
- another word for folk etymology
Word Origin for hobson-jobson C19: Anglo-Indian folk-etymological variant of Arabic yā Hasan! yā Husayn! O Hasan! O Husain! (ritual lament for the grandsons of Mohammed); influenced by the surnames Hobson and Jobson Word Origin and History for hobson-jobson Hobson-Jobson
1690s, hossen gossen, said to have been British soldiers’ mangled Englishing of the Arabic cry they heard at Muharram processions in India, Ya Hasan! Ya Husayn! (“O Hassan! O Husain!”), mourning two grandsons of the Prophet who died fighting for the faith. Title of Yule & Burnell’s 1886 glossary of Anglo-Indian words, and taken by linguists in naming the law of Hobson-Jobson, describing the effort to bring a new and strange word into harmony with the language.