By Jingo

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The expression "by Jingo" is apparently a minced oath that appeared rarely in print, but which may be traced as far back as to at least the 17th century in a transparent euphemism for "by Jesus". [1] The OED attests the first appearance in 1794, in an English edition of the works of François Rabelais as a translation for the French par Dieu! ("by God!").

The form "by Gingo!" is also recorded in 18th century.

The expression "hey Jingo"/"hey Gingo" was also known in the vocabulary of illusionists and jugglers as a cue for magic appearance of objects (cf. "presto"). Martim de Albuquerque in his 1881 "Notes and Queries"[2] mentions a 1679 printed usage of the expression.

Origins have also been claimed for it in languages that would not have been very familiar in the British pub: in Basque, for example, "Jainko" is a form of the word for "God". A claim that the term referred to Empress Jingū has been entirely dismissed.

The chorus of a 1878 song [3] by G. H. MacDermott (singer) and G. W. Hunt (songwriter) commonly sung in pubs and music halls of the Victorian era gave birth to the term "jingoism". The lyrics had the chorus:

We don't want to fight but by Jingo if we do,
We've got the ships, we've got the men, we've got the money too,
We've fought the Bear before, and while we're Britons true,
The Russians shall not have Constantinople.

There is also a folk song "Oh by Jingo! oh by Gee!"[4]

[edit] References

  1. ^ "Jingo, Online Etymology Dictionary, referring to OED
  2. ^ Martim de Albuquerque (1881) "Notes and Queries", p.114
    • Under the article "Jingo", it says that the anonymous Satyrs upon the Jesuits Written in the Year of 1679... (later attributed to John Oldham) in its 4th Satyr has the lines:
      "When spititual Jugglers their chief Mast'ry shew"
      Hey Jingo Sirs! What's this? 'tis Bread you see."
  3. ^ Macdermott's War Song (1878)
  4. ^ "500 Best-Loved Song Lyrics", by Ronald Herder (1998) ISBN 048629725X, p. 246