![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
slumgullion
Jan. 12th, 2018 07:47 amslumgullion (sluhm-GUHL-yuhn, SLUHM-guhl-yuhn) - n., originally the muddy waste left in a mining sluice; any cheap, nasty, watery beverage; a stew made with whatever's on hand, esp. if watery.
The last of a week of colorful Americanisms. This one originated in the mining fields of California, though apparently it dates to at least 1847, just before the Gold Rush. The first citation usually given for the beverage sense is from Mark Twain's Roughing It in 1862. The stew is a later, and the only current, sense. Origin is uncertain, but probably has something to do with a dialect variant of slime, which was known to be used by miners, plus possibly Scots-English and/or Irish-English gullion, mud/quagmire, from Gaelic goilín, pit.
Back next week with the regular mix of mixed-up words, but I have a couple more themes lined up for soon.
---L.
The last of a week of colorful Americanisms. This one originated in the mining fields of California, though apparently it dates to at least 1847, just before the Gold Rush. The first citation usually given for the beverage sense is from Mark Twain's Roughing It in 1862. The stew is a later, and the only current, sense. Origin is uncertain, but probably has something to do with a dialect variant of slime, which was known to be used by miners, plus possibly Scots-English and/or Irish-English gullion, mud/quagmire, from Gaelic goilín, pit.
Back next week with the regular mix of mixed-up words, but I have a couple more themes lined up for soon.
---L.
