Skip to main content

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.'"


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Is there a word/phrase for "unperformant"?

As a software engineer, I need to sometimes describe a piece of code as something that lacks performance or was not written with performance in mind. Example: This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. Based on my Google searches, this isn't a real word. What is the correct way to describe this? EDIT My usage of "performance" here is in regard to speed and efficiency. For example, the better the performance of code the faster the application runs. My question and example target the negative definition, which is in reference to preventing inefficient coding practices. Answer This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. In my opinion, reads more easily as: This coding style leads to unmaintainable and poorly performing code. The key to well-written documentation and reports lies in ease of understanding. Adding poorly understood words such as performant decreases that ease. In addressing the use of such a poorly ...
Post a Comment
Read more

A man has a garden measuring 84 meters by 56 meters. He divides it into the minimum number of square plots. What is the length of the square plots?

We wish to divide this man's garden into the minimum number of square plots possible. A square has all four sides with the same length.Our garden is a rectangle, so the answer is clearly not 1 square plot. If we choose the wrong length for our squares, we may end up with missing holes or we may not be able to fit our squares inside the garden. So we have 84 meters in one direction and 56 meters in the other direction. When we start dividing the garden in square plots, we are "filling" those lengths in their respective directions. At each direction, there must be an integer number of squares (otherwise, we get holes or we leave the garden), so that all the square plots fill up the garden nicely. Thus, our job here is to find the greatest common divisor of 84 and 56. For this, we prime factor both of them: `56 = 2*2*2*7` `84 = 2*2*3*7` We can see that the prime factors and multiplicities in common are `2*2*7 = 28` . This is the desired length of the square plots. If you wi...
Post a Comment
Read more

What warning does Chuchundra issue to Rikki?

Chuchundra, the sniveling, fearful muskrat who creeps around walls because he is too terrified to go into the center of a room, meets Rikki in the middle of the night. He insults Rikki by begging him not to kill him. He then insults him by suggesting that Nag might mistake Chuchundra for Rikki. He says, "Those who kill snakes get killed by snakes."  He issues this warning to Rikki not to help keep Rikki safe but as a way of explaining why Rikki's presence gives him, Chuchundra, more reason to fear.  Chuchundra starts to tell Rikki what Chua the rat told him--but breaks it off when he realizes he might be overheard by Nag. He says, "Nag is everywhere, Rikki-Tikki." Rikki threatens to bite Chuchundra to get him to talk. Even then, Chuchundra won't overtly reveal any information. But he does say, "Can't you hear, Rikki-Tikki?" This is enough of a clue for the clever mongoose. He listens carefully and can just make out the "faintest scratch-s...
Post a Comment
Read more