Cecil omits another theory: its short for Homeward Bound, unproven but IMHO more likely than Hey, beau.
Most etymologists find explanations that involve acronyms to be unconvincing at best, especially when the word has an origin earlier than the 20th century. There’s not the slightest evidence for it in this case.
World Wide Words echoes Cecil and adds:
Also see this earlier thread on another unconvincing derivation.
Yes, I’ve often heard that, however its not really an acronym, but a portmanteau word. I believe these existed long before Lewis Caroll named them.
I never claimed there was. In fact I specifically stated that it’s unproven. I’m not claiming it nto be the true origin of the word, just that it is a theory that has been advanced and ought to be listed with the other theories.
Thnere’s not much evidence fot the other theories either.
Even with the advent of digitizing of historic newspapers and electronically searchable databases, we’ve only been able to push back the first print cite to September of 1888. I found this one, and it’s one of my pet projects to continue searching for the origin(which is still a mystery).
The one thing that I can generalize about from having read 10-20 newspaper cites from 1888-1895 is the fact that the word was first used in the Western US and could mean not only a tramp or bum but was a term often used in connection with railroad laborers, many of whom were foreigners with no family ties. They did meanial work for the railroads and had no permanent location.
Tying the dolls of Grange members’ children to the tracks?
A technical point: a word composed of first syllables is just as much an acronym as one composed of first letters. A portmanteau word virtually always is a first syllable combined with a final syllable, as in brunch, Oxbridge, motel, smog, chocoholic. Hey, beau to hobo would be neither, but a type of slurring of syllables which we know to be common linguistically.
Maybe samclem can correct me, but I don’t think that there are any authenticated cases of early word coinages in the style of hobo from Homeward Bound, which is why etymologists just dismiss these theories out of hand.
And that’s not even taking into account the early uses which were of itinerants with no fixed home, who wouldn’t be homeward bound at any time.
So what is the earliest authenticated coinage of this type?
(And one other thing I’ve been wondering about: What do you call a word like “gaydar?” A portonym?)
A pun.
chukhung writes:
> So what is the earliest authenticated coinage of this type?
The usual rule of thumb is that if there’s a claim that there’s a coinage based on an acronym before 1910, it’s almost certainly wrong. Acronyms more or less began to be used in World War I, started to be used in government agencies in the 1920’s and 1930’s, but the real boom for them began during World War II. The word “acronym” first appeared in print in 1943. There are a few examples of acronymic coinage in the nineteenth century, but there’s only one such word that you have ever heard of - “O.K.” It was established in an important academic paper in the 1940’s written by Allan Walker Read that “O.K.” came from the habit of hip young people in Boston in 1838 of misspelling phrases (in this case, misspelling “all correct” as “oll korrect”) and then using the abbreviation for them as a hip way of saying the phrase (and hence, “O.K.” to mean “all right” or “good” or whatever). Read had to give a whole lot of citations to convince other etymologists that this was the correct etymology, since other etymologists knew how rare it was in the nineteenth century for people to turn acronyms into words.
We’ve discussed the etymology of “O.K.” many times on the SDMB. Many, many, many times. Really. Just do a search on “Allan Walker Read,” “oll korrect,” or “acronym” to find a few of these threads.
And “OK” (or even “Okay”) isn’t really a proper acronym, anyway.
So it sounds like business names such as"Nabisco" or the “REO Car Company” were among some of the earliest acronyms.
I wonder if seeing names like those stamped on widely distributed commercial products may have helped to spread the idea of acronymic word coinage around the country.
“Nabisco” was the name of a particular 1901 cookie, and later an inclusive brand name, but did not become the actual company name until 1971. In my childhood, the National Biscuit Company was using “NBC” as the short form of its corporate name, which was quite confusing to me and other children, especially since the company icon vaguely suggested a television antenna.
The car company (1904), however, did occasionally use the spelling “Reo”, so, despite the rock band, it does appear to have been a true acronym.
I wonder when and how widespread the name “Nabisco” was in the early part of the previous century.
In H.L. Mencken’s The American Language, published in 1921, the author cites a 1913 study entitled “Word-Coinage and Modern Trade Names” by Dr. Louise Pound and says
Mencken also mentions the Italian company Fiat and describes its name as “a blend made of the initials of Fabbrica Italiano Automobili Torino.”
Doing a quick newspaper database search, it was in every newspaper in the US in advertisements for their “Nabisco sugar cookie.” Giant illustrated ads. Special Christmas packaging for the holidays, a la Oreos.
Hundreds of cites from 1902-1915
But the last line in the ad always said “National Biscuit Company”
It seems to me rather irrelevant whether “Nabisco” was used as the name of the company. The question is about acronymic words in general, not just company names, and “Nabisco” did exist as a word for a particular cookie, as those ads attest.
That was my fault. In post #11 of this thread, I should have said “trade names such as ‘Nabisco’ or the ‘REO Car Company’” instead of “business names”. Sorry for the confusion.
But I think my original hypothesis still has some merit. Why did acronymic word coinage (almost unknown prior to 1900) become fairly common in the 20th century? I think the advertising and distribution of products such as Nabisco cookies or Reo automobiles may have helped spread the idea.
(Hey, samclem, just out of curiosity, when did mentions of the Italian firm Fiat start showing up in American newspapers?)
A quick check of just one database shows them selling 40 cars at the auto show in New YOrk in 1906 at prices between $6k and $14K.
I always thought ‘HOBO’ was an abbreviation for 'HO’BOKEN…ie:homeless
Welcome to the Straight Dope Message Boards, Dr Benway, we’re glad to have you with us.
A couple of things, though:
First, when you start a thread, it’s a good idea to provide a link to the column you’re talking about. Helps keep everyone on the same page. In this case, What’s the origin of the word “hobo”?
Second, there’s already a thread about the “Hobo” column. So, I’m going to merge your thread into that prior thread.
No biggies, you’ll know for next time, and, as I say, welcome.
That earlier column I mentioned up above also has a suggestion of Hoboken as the origin of hobo. The usual problem: not the slightest actual evidence.