Etymology of "Fink"?

[ralph124c]

As I understand it, fink is both a noun and a verb:
-(Noun): a disreputable, untrustworthy person
-(Verb): to “rat out someone”, to use confidential information carelessly
I believe the word to be of yiddish origin-but in checking the standard reference (Leo Rosten, “The Joys of Yiddish”, 1967), there is no entry at all for “fink”.
So where did it come from?

[Taomist]

I don’t know, but I went to school with a girl with the last name of Fink. She didn’t need any further nicknames. >.<

[twickster]

Moved Cafe Society --> GQ.

[Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew]

It also has a noun meaning related to the verb: an informer. My completely unfounded WAG is that it is from the German (and presumably also Yiddish) Fink, meaning finch, i.e., one who “sings.”

[Chimera]

Sounds about right.

[Colibri]

@Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew

It also has a noun meaning related to the verb: an informer. My completely unfounded WAG is that it is from the German (and presumably also Yiddish) Fink, meaning finch, i.e., one who “sings.”

There are a couple of theories. One relates it, as you say, to the German word for finch. The other, which IMO may be a bit more far-fetched, is that it derived from the Pinkerton agents used against organized labor in the struggles at the end of the 19th century.

From Dictionary.com.

Origin: 1900–05, Americanism; compared with German Fink literally, finch, colloquial epithet for an undesirable person, especially an untidy or loose-living one (often in compounds, as Duckfink sycophant, Schmierfink untidy writer); but the transmission of this word to E and the range of meanings of the E word have not been clarified fully

1902, of uncertain origin, possibly from Ger. Fink “a frivolous or dissolute person,” originally “finch,” which also gave it another sense of “informer” (cf. stool pigeon). The other theory traces it to Pinks, short for Pinkerton agents, the private police force hired to break up the 1892 Homestead strike.

[samclem]

There are theories, but no one has currently found a smoking gun–Hell, not even one that is still warm.

The oldest meaning(a contemptible offensive, or unreliable person) found in print is

@Historical Dictionary of American Slang

1894. George Ade, Chicago Stories. Everybody that’s on to him says he’s a fink…You know what I mean; he’s a stiff, a skate. He drinks and never come up. He’s always layin’ to make a touch, too.

The next cite in print is 1902-3, meaning a betrayer of associates, an informer or stool pigeon

@George Ade

in People You Know. Any one who goes against the Faculty single-handed is a fink.

The strike breaker meaning only appears in print(so far) in 1917. The speculation that it originated in the famous Homestead(PA) strike of 1892 is currently unsupported.

The criminal sense(informer) appears first in print in 1925.

[ralph124c]

Thanks for the replies.
My Dad used the word frequently, but it seems to have (largely) died out .
I haven’t heard it in years. “Mad Magazine” used it frequently, but that was a long time ago.
Still, I always thoght it sounded neat!

[digs]

@ralph124c

Thanks for the replies.
My Dad used the word frequently, but it seems to have (largely) died out .
I haven’t heard it in years. “Mad Magazine” used it frequently, but that was a long time ago.
Still, I always thoght it sounded neat!

Your dad’s probably also of that age that saw “Ratfink” dolls, shirts and cars popularized by Ed “Big Daddy” Roth.

[Colibri]

@digs

Your dad’s probably also of that age that saw “Ratfink” dolls, shirts and cars popularized by Ed “Big Daddy” Roth.

As am I.

Ratfink.

Rat Fink song by Allan Sherman, a parody of “Rag Mop.”

[Exapno_Mapcase]

There’s also the once you see it you can never bleach your brain magnificence of 1966’s Ratphink a Boo Boo

[Senegoid]

While on the subject, we cannot leave unmentioned “The Pink Phink” Pink Panther toon.

[Peanuthead]

A lot of us boomers picked it up from Steve Allen on the Tonight Show in the early to mid 1960s. You could get away with using it in front of your parents instead of cursing.