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Etymology of "Horsengoggle"

English Language & Usage Asked on February 27, 2021

(Note to the dyslexic: be sure NOT to confuse this with “Google”.)

Horse and goggle –> Horse ‘n’ goggle –> Horsengoggle

There is a Wikipedia entry for this hand game: a kind of rock-paper-scissors, or drawing straws for a group to pick a single ‘winner’.

My question is, within the context of this game, where did the name come from?

My best guesses:

  • A jockey on a horse who wears goggles running around a track like the circle of people?
  • The goggles that a horse wears, like blinders?
  • People goggling (gaping) at a horse race?
  • Horsing around and goggling the results?
  • Somehow related to the dice, poker, and basketball games called “horse”?
  • ?

The game may have started in Germany, or from an American whose family came from Germany, so maybe “goggle” has some alternate meaning lost in translation?

2 Answers

The term horsen is an archaic term meaning “horses”

From Middle English horsen, alternative plural of hors, equivalent to horse +‎ -en ‎(plural suffix). Wiktionary

The term gog (noun) is an obsolete term, which means haste; ardent desire to go, and M&W define it as stir, excitement, eagerness.

The suffix -le:

From Middle English -el, from Old English -el, -ol, -ul ‎(agent suffix), from Proto-Germanic * -ilaz (agent suffix). Cognate with West Frisian -el, Dutch -el, Low German -el, German -el.
‘A suffix forming agent nouns from verbs’:

Intuitive Guess: horsengoggle could mean: “horses who can't wait to begin/start/go”

Correct answer by Mari-Lou A on February 27, 2021

My guess is that it is a nonsense word and it's origin has no meaning other than thought adequately silly by it's inventor.

Answered by David Brandt on February 27, 2021

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