Hobson-Jobson

Detta ärevördiga etymologiska verk, vars fulla ståtliga titel lyder Hobson-Jobson: A Glossary of Colloquial Anglo-Indian Words and Phrases, and of Kindred Terms, Etymological, Historical, Geographical and Discursive, fick sitt namn på ett minst sagt ovanligt sätt. Upphovsmännen hette inte alls Hobson och Jobson, utan Henry Yule och Arthur Burnell. De satte helt enkelt ett av de många uttryck de beskrivit som titel:

In Anglo-Indian English, the term Hobson-Jobson referred to any festival or entertainment, but especially ceremonies of the Mourning of Muharram. In origin the term is a corruption by British soldiers of "Ya Hasan! Ya Hosain!" which is repeatedly cried by Shia Muslims as they beat their chests throughout the procession of the Muharram. Yule and Burnell were looking for a catchy title for their dictionary and decided upon this as it was a "typical and delightful example" of the type of the highly domesticated words in the dictionary and at the same time conveyed "a veiled intimation of dual authorship".

Dvs. en direkt motsvarighet till "exempel-titlar" som Råttan i pizzan. Fast att Hobson-Jobson är en sådan går ju inte att gissa.


Wikipedia: Hobson-Jobson