# "Hurrah" and Genghis Khan

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hurrah-and-genghis-khan/539405>\
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\
**Created:** [May 14, 2010, 8:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hurrah-and-genghis-khan/539405 "2010-05-14T08:30:11Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![taqasim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/aca169/32.png) [@taqasim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/taqasim)\
**Post date:** [May 14, 2010, 8:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hurrah-and-genghis-khan/539405/1 "2010-05-14T08:30:11Z")

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> **[Was “hip hip hurrah” originally an anti-Semitic taunt?](https://www.straightdope.com/21341918/was-hip-hip-hurrah-originally-an-anti-semitic-taunt)**

This answer centered mainly on the “hep” in “hep hep hurrah,” inconclusively musing that the expressions could come from herders’ calls. Which seems very plausible to me. However, I did read recently that “hurrah” or “hurray” comes from the Mongolians of Genghis Khan’s time. It would make sense that these nomadic herdsmen, who probably contributed a great deal to equestrian and herding practices the world over (considering they eventually oversaw an empire that stretched from Eastern Europe to Korea). Has anyone else heard of this connection?

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**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\
**Post date:** [May 14, 2010, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hurrah-and-genghis-khan/539405/2 "2010-05-14T15:33:41Z")

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Highly unlikely.

> [@](#):
>
> huzza  
> also huzzah, 1570s, originally a sailor’s shout of exaltation, encouragement, or applause. Perhaps originally a hoisting cry.
> 
> hurrah  
> 1680s, alteration of huzza, apparently influenced by similar shouts in German, Danish, Swedish. Perhaps picked up during Thirty Years’ War. According to Moriz Heyne, this was the battle-cry of Prussian soldiers during the War of Liberation (1812-13). Hooray is its popular form and is almost as old. Also hurray; hoorah (1936).

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**Author:** ![banjopatterson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@banjopatterson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/banjopatterson)\
**Post date:** [May 15, 2010, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hurrah-and-genghis-khan/539405/3 "2010-05-15T14:33:01Z")

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According to the late George MacDonald Fraser “Hip hip hooray” was an ancient Briton war cry.