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etymology - Where does the word “snogging” come from?


Where does the word snogging come from, in the sense of canoodling? I’m looking for it etymology, not for its connotation or phonoaesthetic properties, as the answer of the other question provides.


The OED says that its origin is unknown, as does Etymonline. The latter claims that the word “is said to have originated in British India”, but says nothing more than that.


Citations in the OED date back only to 1945, so this came to us within living memory: we ought to be able to track it down. Here are two of its later citations:



  • 1966 P. Willmott Adolescent Boys iii. 40, — I went upstairs with Jill and we did a bit of snogging on the bed.

  • 1975 Weekend 4 Feb. 19/1 — If a cinema manager tolerates snogging among his audience he is liable to lose his licence.


All the derived terms like snog and snogger ultimately lead to snogging, which leads to a dead end.


So where is snogging from, really?



Answer



Paul Beale, ed., Partridge's Concise Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English (1989) offers this entry for the verb snog:



snog, v. 'To make love with repletion of kissing and cuddling; hence, snogging session, making love' (L.A. 1977); very common throughout WW2 [and still, 1983, not ob.: P.B.] I surmise a dial. alteration of snug, cosy, notably as in that snuggling-up which so often preludes a warmer conjunction. —2. Hence, to flirt, or to court, esp in be or come or go snogging: beatniks', adopted, ca. 1959 , ex gen s. (Anderson) The term, esp as be or go snogging, seems to have orig in the RAF, late 1930s (Partridge 1945).



However, Eric Partridge, A Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, Fifth Edition (1961) suggests a slightly different etymology:



snogging, be or go. To be or go courting a girl; to be or go love-making: RAF: since ca. 1937. Partridge 1945, 'Snog is perhaps a blend of snug and cod (to flatter or kid a person).'



That same source notes that "snogged up"—supposedly an RAF term dating to circa 1939—means "Smartened up, 'all dressed up.'"


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