2006-09-13 23:49:50 · 6 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Languages
Another accepted term is hiccough. Dictionary.com states the origin as...
[Origin: 1570–80; alter. of hocket, hickock, equiv. to hic + -ock; akin to LG hick hiccup; see hocket]
....and hocket is descried as:
hock‧et /ˈhɒkɪt/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[hok-it] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation
–noun a technique in medieval musical composition in which two or three voice parts are given notes or short phrases in rapid alternation, producing an erratic, hiccuping effect.
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[Origin: 1250–1300; ME hoket hitch < MF hocquet hiccup, sudden interruption, equiv. to hoc- (imit.) + -et dim. suffix; see hiccup]
So, maybe the hiccup was named after the musical equivalent?
I also found this to back it up:
From Lee Daniel Quinn:
I've been deprived all my life. When I get hiccups, all I do is "hic"! Are there some people who actually "hiccup"? Or perhaps, as in the case of "throw up", it means to "hic" up?
That's a good guess! However, if we take a look at the word's earlier forms, we find hickock and then hicket. These suggest a derivation from French hoquet, which is a diminutive form of of the sound made when one hiccups. So a hiccup is, etymologically, a "little hic" (the hic being imitative of the sound made when one hiccups)! The earliest English form (1544) evolved into the current English form in this fashion: hicket, hickot, hickock, hickop, hiccup, hiccough.
Note that hiccough is the last in the series. It was invented, erroneously, because someone apparently thought that cough should be part of a hiccup!
The hoquet form survives as the musical term hocket. This is where members of a group of musicians take turns in playing the notes of a melody. Unless this is performed with great skill it sounds like a series of hiccups.
2006-09-14 00:05:22 · answer #1 · answered by eric_aixelsyd 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Hiccup Etymology
2017-01-13 10:35:14 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Hiccup is simply an onomatopoeia. It is a word designed to sound like what it describes.
2006-09-13 23:54:27 · answer #3 · answered by StoneWeasel 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Plain onomatopoeia!
2006-09-13 23:52:05 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
I think that it originate from the sound which it produces.
2006-09-13 23:54:09 · answer #5 · answered by WC 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
It came from hicket which came from hik which came from Holland ,Denmark and breton
2006-09-13 23:57:22 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋