Subject:
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Re: Yet Another Episode 1 Question
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.debate
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Date:
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Fri, 14 Apr 2000 16:06:17 GMT
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Viewed:
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465 times
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> > But looking at the way the original poster spelt the word--that's how a lot • of
> > people spell it--it's easy to understand how its origins could be obscured.
>
> Apparently all too easily - Encarta's on-line dictionary only notes the word
> gyp "possibly" comes from gypsy (though it seems likely to me).
>
> Bruce
From : http://www.bibliomania.com I found:
Gyp A college servant, whose office is that of a gentleman's valet, waiting on
two or more collegians in the University of Cambridge. He differs from a
bed-maker, inasmuch as he does not make beds; but he runs on errands, waits at
table, wakes men for morning chapel, brushes their clothes, and so on. His
perquisites are innumerable, and he is called a gyp (vulture, Greek) because he
preys upon his employer like a vulture. At Oxford they are called scouts.
If this is correct, perhaps "Gypsy" come from the Greek for "vulture"?
Interestingly "Gipsy" gives us:
Gipsy (g soft). Said to be a corruption of Egyptian, and so called because in
1418 a band of them appeared in Europe, commanded by a leader named Duke
Michael of "Little Egypt."
Scott A
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | Re: Yet Another Episode 1 Question
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| (...) a (...) you (...) I'd (...) didn't (...) clearly (...) People (...) used (...) Jewish (a (...) exploded (...) Apparently all too easily - Encarta's on-line dictionary only notes the word gyp "possibly" comes from gypsy (though it seems likely (...) (25 years ago, 14-Apr-00, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)
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