sidartha
Junior Member
Posts: 19
Registered: 5-19-2003
Member Is Offline
|
|
posted on 8-4-2004 at 07:36 PM
|
|
|
Jukebox Etymology
etymology - n 1: a history of a word 2: the study of the sources and development of words
I have been interested in etymology for a few years now and just happened to come across this today and thought I'd share it with other eJukebox
users:
JUKE
PRONUNCIATION: jk, jk
VARIANT FORMS: also jook
NOUN: Southeastern U.S. A roadside or rural establishment offering liquor, dancing, and often gambling and prostitution. Also called juke house, juke
joint.
INTRANSITIVE VERB: Inflected forms: juked also jooked, juk·ing, jook·ing, jukes, jooks
1. To play dance music, especially in a juke. 2. To dance, especially in a juke or to the music of a jukebox.
ETYMOLOGY: Probably from Gullah juke, joog, disorderly, wicked, of West African origin; akin to Wolof dzug, to live wickedly, and Bambara dzugu,
wicked.
REGIONAL NOTE: Gullah, the English-based Creole language spoken by people of African ancestry off the coast of Georgia and South Carolina, retains a
number of words from the West African languages brought over by slaves. One such word is juke, “bad, wicked, disorderly,” the probable source of the
English word juke. Used originally in Florida and then chiefly in the Southeastern states, juke (also appearing in the compound juke joint) was an
African-American word meaning a roadside drinking establishment that offers cheap drinks, food, and music for dancing and often doubles as a brothel.
“To juke” is to dance, particularly at a juke joint or to the music of a jukebox whose name, no longer regional and having lost the connotation of
sleaziness, contains the same word.
|
|
|
junk
Member
Posts: 480
Registered: 5-10-2003
Location: Norway
Member Is Offline
|
|
posted on 8-5-2004 at 06:02 AM
|
|
|
|
Thanks for the facts! Interesting! I also share this interest for the origin of word, yet i didn't have a word for it before (a bit ironic,
perhaps).
|
|
|
|
