On the etymological relationships of wank , swank , and wonky
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Paul S. Cohen
Abstract
The English slang verb wank (off) ‘(of a male) to masturbate; to masturbate (a male)’ has no generally accepted etymology. Using historical and dialectal English data, comparative data from German and other Germanic languages, and a parallel semantic development in French, I establish an etymology for wank, connect it etymologically to English swank (and the exactly parallel German wanken ‘to sway, shake, wobble, totter, etc.’ with its apparent s-mobile partner schwanken ‘to sway, shake, tremble, stagger, totter, etc.’, and items related to these) and wonky ‘shaky, unstable, etc.’, and offer surmises about etymologies and relationships among these items and wang, yang ‘penis’; wonk; and yank (for the last two of which there are also no generally accepted etymologies).
Abstract
The English slang verb wank (off) ‘(of a male) to masturbate; to masturbate (a male)’ has no generally accepted etymology. Using historical and dialectal English data, comparative data from German and other Germanic languages, and a parallel semantic development in French, I establish an etymology for wank, connect it etymologically to English swank (and the exactly parallel German wanken ‘to sway, shake, wobble, totter, etc.’ with its apparent s-mobile partner schwanken ‘to sway, shake, tremble, stagger, totter, etc.’, and items related to these) and wonky ‘shaky, unstable, etc.’, and offer surmises about etymologies and relationships among these items and wang, yang ‘penis’; wonk; and yank (for the last two of which there are also no generally accepted etymologies).
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Foreword & acknowledgements vii
- List of abbreviations ix
- Editors’ introduction xi
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Part I. Etymology
- Etymology and the OED 3
- On the etymological relationships of wank , swank , and wonky 21
- Base etymology in the historical thesauri of deverbatives in English 29
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Part II. Semantic fields
- The global organization of the English lexicon and its evolution 65
- Repayment and revenge 85
- Semantic change in the domain of the vocabulary of Christian clergy 99
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Part III. Word-formation
- Abstract noun ‘suffixes’ and text type in Old English 119
- The lexicalisation of syncope 133
- Oriented - ingly adjuncts in Late Modern English 147
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Part IV. Textlinguistics, text types, politeness
- Historical text linguistics 167
- Repetitive and therefore fixed? 189
- Politeness strategies in Late Middle English women’s mystical writing 209
- A diachronic discussion of extenders in English remedies found in the Corpus of Early English Recipes (1350–1850) 223
- “It is with a trembling hand I beg to intrude this letter” 237
- Genre analysis 255
- Index 267
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Foreword & acknowledgements vii
- List of abbreviations ix
- Editors’ introduction xi
-
Part I. Etymology
- Etymology and the OED 3
- On the etymological relationships of wank , swank , and wonky 21
- Base etymology in the historical thesauri of deverbatives in English 29
-
Part II. Semantic fields
- The global organization of the English lexicon and its evolution 65
- Repayment and revenge 85
- Semantic change in the domain of the vocabulary of Christian clergy 99
-
Part III. Word-formation
- Abstract noun ‘suffixes’ and text type in Old English 119
- The lexicalisation of syncope 133
- Oriented - ingly adjuncts in Late Modern English 147
-
Part IV. Textlinguistics, text types, politeness
- Historical text linguistics 167
- Repetitive and therefore fixed? 189
- Politeness strategies in Late Middle English women’s mystical writing 209
- A diachronic discussion of extenders in English remedies found in the Corpus of Early English Recipes (1350–1850) 223
- “It is with a trembling hand I beg to intrude this letter” 237
- Genre analysis 255
- Index 267
