hobnob的词源

英文词源

hobnob: hobnob: [18] In Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, Sir Toby Belch says ‘Hob, nob, is his word: give’t or take’t’; from which it has been deduced that the hob of hobnob represents have and that the nob represents the now obsolete nave ‘not have’ (formed in the Old English period by adding the negative particle ne to have). In Middle English these would have been habbe and nabbe.

When hobnob first appears as a verb, in the mid 18th century, it means ‘drink together’ – perhaps from the notion of buying alternate rounds of drinks, or drinking toasts to each other in turn. The modern sense ‘associate familiarly, socialize’ is not recorded before the early 19th century.
=> have
hobnob (v.): 1763, "to drink to each other," from hob and nob (1756) "to toast each other by turns, to buy alternate rounds of drinks," from c. 1550 hab nab "to have or have not, hit or miss," probably ultimately from Old English habban, nabban "have, not have," with the negative particle ne- attached, as was customary. Modern sense of "socialize" is 1866. Related: Hobnobbed; hobnobbing.

缩写自短语hob and nob,敬酒，你一杯我一杯，来自古英语habban,nabban,对应have,not have.引申词义亲近，巴结。比较willy-nilly.

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