Is this a dagger which I see before me? (If it's being wielded in high dudgeon, I'm outta here.)īefore you can say Jack Robinson. Very dangerous, if the person gripping the knife happens to be in high dudgeon. All in all, it seems that knives are involved. The source also has been sought in Celtic, especially Welsh dygen "malice, resentment," but OED reports that this "appears to be historically and phonetically baseless." You can also read a bit more about this phrase at the Grammarphobia blog, right here. No clear connection to earlier dudgeon (late 14c.), a kind of wood used for knife handles, which is perhaps from French douve "a stave," which probably is Germanic. One suggestion is Italian aduggiare "to overshadow," giving it the same sense development as umbrage. The Online Etymological Dictionary gives a similar shrug of the shoulders:ĭudgeon (n.) "feeling of offense, resentment, sullen anger," 1570s, duggin, of unknown origin. There’s no evidence whatever of the connection. The grabbing of a dudgeon knife with intent to redress a slight, but
It just might be that a state of anger or resentment could have led to Was used for a dagger whose handle was made of this wood. Shakespeare’s Macbeth: “I see thee still, / And on thy bladeĪnd dudgeon gouts of blood, / Which was not so before.” Later the word It has been suggested it was another name for boxwood. Of wood used by turners, especially the handles of knives or daggers. It also records another sense of the word, itself mysterious, for a kind It does point to endugine, a word recorded just once, in 1638, with the same sense, which might have given us a clue, but doesn’t help at all. Others also ending in -udgeon: bludgeon and curmudgeon.ĭudgeon means a state of anger, resentment, or offence and often turns up as in dudgeon or in high dudgeon The Oxford English Dictionary can’t give its source, though it’s sure it’s not from the Welsh word dygen, meaning malice or resentment, which has been suggested in the past. is one of a distressingly large group of words for Turns out, this phrase is a bit of a mystery all around. (Confession: for a long time, I thought it was high dungeon, not high dudgeon.) So what the heck is a dudgeon anyway? And if it's a high dudgeon vs a low dudgeon? It's all a bit of a mystery to me.
Now here is a phrase I've used before without really thinking about it. and even appears in Anthony Trollope's novel The Last Chronicle of Barset in 1867: “ ‘Mamma, Major Grantly has - skedaddled.’ ‘Oh, Lily, what a word!’ ”ĭer fliehende Liebhaber by A. has led etymologists a pretty dance in trying to World Wide Words, in a discussion of skedaddle, pretty much sums up the mystery of its genesis thusly: scaddle 'scare, frighten.'" Related: Skedaddled skedaddling. He calls it instead an "enlargement of dial. Word of Greek, Irish, or Swedish, and it is not a blend" [contra De With a meaning "to spill." Liberman says it "has no connection with any Origin, perhaps connected to earlier use in northern England dialect "to run away," 1861, American Civil War military slang, of unknown The Online Etymology Dictionary scratches its head over the origin, discounts De Vere (mentioned above), and offers this:
#SKEDADDLE ETYMOLOGY HOW TO#
Well, heck, I can't figure out how to recreate all the Greek letters here, so I'll just point you to the entry, which is quite the fun essay to read.įloyd's Retreat From Fort Donelson, With a Running Description of the The entry goes on to suggest the Scandinavians from Wisconsin might have introduced the word during the Civil War, and then peers back in time to trace the word to a Greek verb. In answer to inquires about its origin, some Irishmen at once claimed it as their own. It appeared in print, probably for the first time, immediately after the battle of Bull Run, and was at once caught at and repeated all over the country. De Vere succinctly summarizes the various conflicting theories as to its origin thus: -"the word skedaddle even crossed the Atlantic, and was once gravely discussed in Parliament. It goes on, and on, for almost an entire page. Skedaddle, to-To depart hurriedly to run away. But if you want something more authoritative and historical, keep reading for edification on skedaddle from Americanisms, Old and New by John Stephen Farmer (1889). Skedaddle! Oh, what a perfect word! I say it out loud, and I swear I can hear the sound of scuffling feet hurrying away.
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