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Hobson-Jobson

noun
/ˌhɒb.sənˈdʒɒb.sən/UK/ˌhɑb.sənˈdʒɑb.sən/US

Etymology

Derived from adapting the call Hassan! Hussein! (حَسَن حُسَيْن (ḥasan ḥusayn), a lament for the grandsons of the Prophet Muhammad) to Hobson and Jobson, a pair of comic figures popular in the nineteenth century. Note that the conventional derivation from "Ya Hassan! Ya Hussein!" is incorrect. Coined in the linguistic sense by Yule and Burnell in their dictionary Hobson-Jobson.

Definitions

  1. Any Indian religious observance, especially the Muharram.

    • ‘You must be moped to death in this dull place; and next week is Hobson Jobson. Can’t you throw some dust any how, in the eyes of the cat, and meet me and Philip somewhere, and so get away to the Tamacha.’
    • The dusky sons of Mohammed have been having a high old time down at the British India Company’s wharves during the past few days. [. . .] It was the great week of ‘Hobson-Jobson,’ as it is known out East, or the time of the Mohurram.

  2. The assimilation of borrowed lexis, either partial or whole, to word forms of the…

    The assimilation of borrowed lexis, either partial or whole, to word forms of the borrowing language.

    • Falaun, s. […] gradually, by a process of Hobson-Jobson, this was turned into Forlorn.
    • Learned persons, especially those who know all about ‘Volksetymologie,’ whether under that imposing name, or more familiarly as ‘Hobson-Jobson,’ are advised to pass on to the next question.

  3. A word or phrase borrowed by one language from another and modified in pronunciation to…

    A word or phrase borrowed by one language from another and modified in pronunciation to fit the set of sounds the borrowing language typically uses.

    • CARAFT, here is a delicious Hobson-Jobson from that veritable well of curious Anglo-Indianisms, the Madras Manual of Administration[.]
    • If the French for pun, calembour, derives (as Spitzer maintained) from "conundrum"; this points up well the at first puzzling effect of such devices. Caran d'Ache is in fact an intentional hobson-jobson.
  4. ›+ 1 more definition

    1. Alternative letter-case form of Hobson-Jobson.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for Hobson-Jobson. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA