Etymologie, Etimología, Étymologie, Etimologia, Etymology, (griech.) etymología, (lat.) etymologia, (esper.) etimologio
UK Vereinigtes Königreich Großbritannien und Nordirland, Reino Unido de Gran Bretaña e Irlanda del Norte, Royaume-Uni de Grande-Bretagne et d'Irlande du Nord, Regno Unito di Gran Bretagna e Irlanda del Nord, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, (esper.) Britujo
Ismus, Ismo, Isme, Ismo, Ism, (esper.) ismoj
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akimbo (W3)

• engl. "(a) sharp angle", mit engl. "keen" = dt. "scharf" und engl. "bow" = dt. "Winkel", "Bogen", wie in engl. "elbow" = dt. "Ellenbogen".
• isländ. "kimbill", "kimpill", "kimbli" = engl. "bundle of hay", "hillock", wurde einst mit "akimbo" in Zusammenhang gebracht
• Ein anderer Erklärungsversuch sieht die Herkunft in altnord. "í keng boginn" = engl. "bent in a bow or curve" = dt. "bogenförmig, kurvenartig gekrümmt". Aber da fehlt die Assoziation zu "Hände in die Hüfte gestemmt und nach der Seite gebogenen Ellbogen".
• Weitere Erklärungsversuche beziehen sich auf altfrz. "chane", "kane", "quenne" = engl. "pitcher", "jug", "flagon" = dt. "Krug ", "Kanne" und English "bow" = dt. "Henkel".
• Gaelic "cam" = engl. "bent", "crooked"
• italian phrase "a sghembo" = engl. "awry", "aslope", wurde ebenfalls in Erwägung gezogen
• ...

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.

"akimbo"

ADVERB:

• In or into a position in which the hands are on the hips and the elbows are bowed outward: children standing akimbo by the fence.

ADJECTIVE:

• 1. Placed in such a way as to have the hands on the hips and the elbows bowed outward: children standing with arms akimbo.
• 2. Being in a bent, bowed, or arched position: “There he remained, dead to the world, limbs akimbo, until we left” (Alex Shoumatoff).

ETYMOLOGY:

Middle English "in kenebowe" : "in" = "in"; see "in" (1) + "kenebowe" ("kene-", of unknown meaning + "bowe" = "bow", "bend"; see "bow" (3)).

"akimbo", adjective

With a crook or bend; with the hand on the hip and elbow turned outward.

adverb

Into or of the position where the arms are akimbo.

The man was standing akimbo.

Etymology: From "keng" = "bent" + "bogi" = "a bow"

"akimbo", Adjective

Meaning: (Standing) with the hands resting on the hips, elbows bent and sticking out (as in the photograph).

Notes: This adjective is unusual in two respects: it follows its noun, rather than preceding it, and it is used mostly in one expression "with arms akimbo": "She stood with arms akimbo, daring him to approach her." There are no nouns, adverbs, or verbs associated with this word; it is the purest of lexical orphans.
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Word History: What did you say? It might seem that we are dealing with a foreign borrowing, Native American or Japanese. It is of dubious origin but nothing as exotic as these languages. In Middle English it was in "kenebowe", perhaps from Middle English phrase "in keen bow" = "at a sharp angle", with "keen" in its Middle English sense of "sharp" + "bow" = "arch". It might be a borrowed Scandinavian word akin to Icelandic "kengboginn" = "bow-bent", or Old Norse "i keng boginn" meaning "bent in a curve". Since the stance resembles a jug with two handles, vain attempts have been made to associate it with Old French "chane" or "kane" = "jug". However it started, it eventually dissolved into a "kenbow" and, finally, into engl. "akimbo".

"Legs Akimbo"

By Simon Kewin

"Legs akimbo" is a phrase used so much it has become a cliché, and clichés are obviously something to be avoided if you want to create interesting, vivid writing. But you should also be aware that "legs akimbo" is logically meaningless.

According to the OED, "akimbo" means :

"with hands on the hips and elbows turned outwards" (origin, probably from Old Norse).
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"akimbo", adjective, adverb

• with hand on hip and elbow bent outward: - to stand with arms akimbo.
• (of limbs) splayed out in an awkward or ungainly manner: - After the strenuous hike, she sat on the floor with her legs akimbo.
• (of limbs) fully extended in opposite directions: - The dancer warmed up with his arms and legs stretched akimbo.
• to one side; askew; awry: They wore their hats akimbo. - He woke up from his nap, hair akimbo.

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ORIGIN OF "AKIMBO"

First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English in "kenebowe", from unattested Old Norse "i keng boginn" = "bent into a crook" ("i" = "in", "keng" (accusative of "kengr" = "hook"), "boginn" (past participle of "bjuga" = "to bend")
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"akimbo" (adv., adj.)

"with the hands on the hips and the elbows bent outward at sharp angles", c. 1400, "in kenebowe", of unknown origin, perhaps from Middle English phrase "in keen bow" = "at a sharp angle" (with "keen" in its Middle English sense of "sharp" + "bow" = "arch"), or from a Scandinavian word akin to Icelandic "kengboginn" = "bow-bent", but this seems not to have been used in this exact sense. Middle English Compendium compares Old French "chane" / "kane" / "quenne" = "can", "pot", "jug". Many languages use a teapot metaphor for this, such as Modern French "faire le pot a deux anses" = "to play the pot with two handles."

Entries linking to akimbo

ide. "*bheug-"

Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to bend", with derivatives referring to "bent", "pliable", or "curved objects".

It forms all or part of: "akimbo"; "bagel"; "bight"; "bog"; "bow" (v.) "to bend the body"; "bow" (n.1) "weapon for shooting arrows"; "bow" (n.2) "front of a ship"; "bowsprit"; "buxom"; "elbow".

It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Sanskrit "bhujati" = "bends", "thrusts aside"; Old English "bugan", German "biegen", Gothic "biugan" = "to bend"; Old High German "boug", Old English "beag" = "a ring".

Adjectives "galore"

March 3, 2017
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We’ll add some other examples: "arms akimbo", "devil incarnate", "door ajar", "man alive", "ship afloat", "three abreast", "a vacation abroad", and "Watergate redux".

(Many of these words were once phrases beginning with the archaic preposition "a", a variant of "on", according to the Oxford English Dictionary.)
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"akimbo", adjective or adverb

• 1 : having the hand on the hip and the elbow turned outward
• 2 : set in a bent position - a tailor sitting with legs akimbo

Did you know?

It's akimbo nowadays, but in Middle English, the adverbial phrase in kenebowe was used for the bent, hand-on-hip arm (or later, for any bent position). Originally, the term was fairly neutral, but now saying that a person is standing with "arms akimbo" implies a posture that communicates defiance, confidence, aggressiveness, or arrogance.
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Word History - Etymology

Middle English in kenebowe

First Known Use: 15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler: The first known use of akimbo was in the 15th century

See more words from the same century

Limericks on "akimbo"

That is, hands on hips and elbows bent.
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What's the origin of the phrase "Arms akimbo"?

"Akimbo" is one of those odd words, like the "aback" of "taken aback" and "fell" of "one fell swoop", that is rarely used other than in its customary phrase - although there has been a spate of uses of "legs akimbo" recently, since the UK comedy team "The League of Gentlemen" used that as the name of a spoof theatre troupe.

The "arms akimbo" stance generally indicates that combination of impatience and defiance which is these days called "attitude". That is well exemplified in this design for a statue of the US politician Barbara Jordan.

"Akimbo" is one of the oddest words in English and no one knows where it came from.

"Akimbo" began life as "kenebowe" and the first known recording of it is in the "Tale of Beryn", circa 1400, or "The Second Merchant's Tale". This piece, by an unknown author, was added to a 15th century edition of Chaucer's "The Canterbury Tales":

"The hoost... set his hond in kenebowe."

The spelling didn't settle down until the 20th century. In the preceding centuries, when the need for standardised spelling wasn't keenly felt, many variants were used - "kenbow", "kemboll", "a-gambo", "kimbow", "akembo" - anything that sounded like "kenebowe".

How "kenebowe" derived isn't clear. Some scholars have suggested that it originated as the Icelandic "keng-boginn", that is, "bent in a horse-shoe curve". Others have put forward the Middle English "cam bow", that is, "crooked bow".

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The word "akimbo" is at least 600 years old and one source points to a literal meaning of "a keen bow" meaning "a sharp bend" — which is fairly apt since in this stance the arms are bent about 90 degrees or more.

English got the word from Old Norse, not Africa.

We’d never know that however, if it were not for the efforts of the Early English Text Society. This was a group formed back in 1864 under the influence of Frederick James Furnivall.

The objective was to bring ancient musty texts out of inaccessible libraries and reproduce them in modern volumes for all to see and study.

It was in one of these that our word "akimbo" unexpectedly appeared more than 200 years earlier than the next citation in the 1600s.

Furnivall went on to be the second editor of what became "The Oxford English Dictionary". Although unquestionably a critically important figure in the development of the documentation of the record of the English language, some accounts say that Furnivall nearly killed the OED in its infancy.

Evidently he was not the easiest man to work with and he set records for employee turnover.

Just for the record, "bimbo" comes from Italian, from "bambino" meaning "little child" or "baby".

Before "bimbo" referred to an attractive but stupid woman, it meant a tough but stupid man. These changes came over pretty quickly since "bimbo" hasn’t been part of English for 100 years yet.
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Faced with many hypotheses, none of which should be dismissed as untenable, we are still not quite sure where "akimbo" came from, but "origin unknown" would be an unnecessarily harsh verdict. In 1909, the first edition of "Webster’s New International" opted for "keen-", the second (in 1934) cited "kingboginn", and the third (1961) gave the earliest form ("kenebowe") and stopped. This is what I call the progress of the science of etymology.

"Akimbo" is one of the strangest words in the English language.

John Ciardi gave this vivid definition of "akimbo":

"With hands on hips and elbows sharply bent outwards, a body posture indicating impatience, hostility or contempt."

One of the odd things about "akimbo" is that, strictly speaking, the word only applies to this "hands on hips" stance, although metaphorical uses are occasionally seen, such as "legs akimbo".

The origins of "akimbo" are a bit obscure, but it most likely comes from the Old Norse "i keng boginn," meaning "bent in a curve" (the Norse "bogi" is also the source of our "bow").

The phrase entered English around 1400 as "in kenebow," and then spent the next few hundred years mutating through forms such as "on kenbow," "a kimbow," "a kenbo" and "a-kimbo" until it finally arrived at its modern hyphenless "akimbo" form.

(Source: Evan Morris in Word detective)

akimbo

limbs bent; most often, the hands on the hips with elbows bent outward:

I knew I was in trouble when I saw Ma across the street watching me, standing with her arms akimbo.

to hold 2 pistols, one in each hand. A common image is arms extended, face focused and scrunched, blazing off wildly, NOT shooting both pistols at the same time but alternating each time. Also the shooter can wear a trench coat that's flailing in the wind. Sunglasses are okay too.

His akimbo pistols rained a trail of bullets.

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"akimbo" (advb): With hands on hips, elbows turned outwards. Scan => ME. Ice "kengboggin" ("bent into a crook").

Friday, September 4th - akimbo

Outward-Pointing Word of the Day:

Today's word rarely refers to anything other than the arms or legs when bent with their main joints protruding. When your arms are akimbo, your hands are on your hips and your elbows point outward. The less frequent legs akimbo may designate someone sitting cross-legged or with the legs splayed. Akimbo merits a 500-word etymology in the OED, to which the curious are referred.

Wednesday, February 19th

akimbo

Outward-Pointing Word of the Day:

Today's word rarely refers to anything other than the arms or legs when bent with their main joints protruding. When your arms are akimbo, your hands are on your hips and your elbows point outward. The less frequent legs akimbo may designate someone sitting cross-legged or with the legs splayed. Akimbo merits a 500-word etymology in the OED, to which the curious are referred.

akimbo

"Akimbo"
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"Akimbo" is one of the strangest words in the English language, and seems almost to have been invented to mystify folks, especially children. I remember reading many stories as a child in which various characters were described as standing with their "arms akimbo", and being utterly clueless as to what the term meant.
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... John Ciardi gave a vivid definition of "akimbo": "With hands on hips and elbows sharply bent outward, a body posture indicating impatience, hostility or contempt."

One of the odd things about "akimbo" is that, strictly speaking, the word only applies to this "hands on hips" stance, although metaphorical uses are occasionally seen, such as "legs akimbo" or even "mind akimbo".

The origins of "akimbo" are a bit obscure, but it most likely comes from the Old Norse "i keng boginn", meaning "bent in a curve" (the Norse "bogi" is also the source of our "bow"). The phrase entered English around 1400 as "in kenebow", and then spent the next few hundred years mutating through forms such as "on kenbow", "a kimbow", "a kenbo" and "a-kimbo" until it finally arrived at its modern hyphenless "akimbo" form.

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That explains the "a-" prefix, but the "-kimbo" root is more difficult. There are three explanations that have some degree of plausibility, although all three should be treated with skepticism.

The first is that it is a compound of the Anglo-Norman "cane" ("flagon", "pitcher") + "bow". In other words, when standing akimbo one’s arms resemble a jughandle.

The second is that it is from an Old Norse phrase "í keng boginn" ("bent" like a bow). Unfortunately, this phrase is unattested and doesn’t actually appear in any extant writing from the period.

The third is that it is a compound of the Middle English "keen" + "bow", alluding to the sharply bent elbows.

The term started out as "on/in kenebowe" in the fifteenth century. By the middle of the seventeenth century the "on/in" had been reduced to "a", and the "n" had shifted to "m". The "a" began to be hyphenated by the early eighteenth century, "a-kimbo", and by the early nineteenth, it was simply "akimbo".
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[Of uncertain origin, probably from Old Norse.]
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Though at first it was a neutral phrase, the posture it describes is one that implies defiance, aggressiveness or confidence, and these emotions have become attached to the phrase. Charles Reade used it in "The Cloister on the Hearth": “Suddenly setting her arms akimbo she told him with a raised voice and flashing eyes she wondered at his cheek sitting down by that hearth of all hearths in the world”; and Anne Brontë wrote in "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall" that “Mr Hattersley strode up to the fire, and interposing his height and breadth between us and it, stood with arms akimbo, expanding his chest, and gazing round him as if the house and all its appurtenances and contents were his own undisputed possessions”.

"Akimbo" Definition
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