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HUMBUG

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Originally appearing in Volume V13, Page 876 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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HUMBUG , an imposture, sham, See also:

fraud. The word seems to have been originally applied to a See also:trick or hoax, and appears as a See also:slang See also:term about 1750. According to the New See also:English See also:Dictionary, Ferdinando See also:Killigrew's The Universal See also:Jester, which contains the word in its sub-See also:title " a choice collection of many conceits .. . bonmots and humbugs," was published in 1754, not, as is often stated, in 1735-1740. The See also:principal passage in reference to the introduction of the word occurs in The Student, 1750-1751, ii. 41, where it is called " a word very much in See also:vogue with the See also:people of See also:taste and See also:fashion." The origin appears to have been unknown at that date. See also:Skeat connects it (Etym. See also:Diet. 1898) with " hum," to murmur See also:applause, hence flatter, trick, cajole, and " See also:bug," bogey, spectre, the word thus meaning a false alarm. Many fanciful conjectures have been made, e.g. from Irish uim-See also:bog, soft See also:copper, worthless as opposed to See also:sterling See also:money; from " See also:Hamburg," as the centre from which false coins came into See also:England during the See also:Napoleonic See also:wars; and from the See also:Italian uomo bugiardo, lying See also:man.

End of Article: HUMBUG

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HUME, ALEXANDER (c. 1557-1609)

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