Origin of shenanigan

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I always assumed that "shenanigans" had an Irish etymology, like "hooligan" and "mulligan" and was surpriseed that the OED lists its origin as "obscure." THe Encarta World guesses that it might derive from the Spanish "chanada," "trick, deceit," contraction of "charranada." Does anyone have anything to add to this debate?

Usenet · Accepted Answer

[nq:1]I always assumed that "shenanigans" had an Irish etymology, like "hooligan" and "mulligan" and was surpriseed that the OED lists ... might derive from the Spanish "chanada," "trick, deceit," contraction of "charranada." Does anyone have anything to add to this debate?[/nq]
As a native Spanish speaker I find the Spanish etymology difficult to believe. This is just my personal feeling. Apart from this, I would not rely on a Microsoft-controlled work like Encarta for this (or anything else, at that).

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]I always assumed that "shenanigans" had an Irish etymology, like "hooligan" and "mulligan" and was surpriseed that the OED lists ... might derive from the Spanish "chanada," "trick, deceit," contraction of "charranada." Does anyone have anything to add to this debate?[/nq]
Microsoft gives away Encartas for nothing, and you get what you pay for.

Whitehall has two conjectures:
1. Irish 'I play the fox'.
2. Dialectal German , , 'to work athard labor', hence by pejoration 'to use trickery to avoid work'.

I find the German suggestion highly implausible, since it would more likely produce a verb like * or * when borrowed into English (cf. from , discussed recently).

English 'to notice, observe closely, comprehend' is borrowed from Irish 'I notice, understand', so it is conceivable that the Irish verb cited above was borrowed into English as * or the like, 'I play the fox, play tricks, play pranks', and then somehow crossed with a surname like , perhaps the name of a local prankster. This is entirely conjectural, of course, but in the absence of documentation to the contrary, I think an Irish derivation is to be preferred.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]I always assumed that "shenanigans" had an Irish etymology, like "hooligan" and "mulligan" and was surpriseed that the OED lists ... might derive from the Spanish "chanada," "trick, deceit," contraction of "charranada." Does anyone have anything to add to this debate?[/nq]
The question has come up before in soc.culture.irish. I did a search, but couldn't find the answer. I did find this:
http://www.faqs.org/faqs/shenanigans-faq/index.html

No origin for the word is given. You might go to alt.shenanigans and ask, but they might play pranks on you.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]I always assumed that "shenanigans" had an Irish etymology, like ... "charranada." Does anyone have anything to add to this debate?[/nq]
[nq:1]The question has come up before in soc.culture.irish. I did a search, but couldn't find the answer. I did find this: http://www.faqs.org/faqs/shenanigans-faq/index.html No origin for the word is given. You might go to alt.shenanigans and ask, but they might play pranks on you.[/nq]
FWIW, Encyclopedia of Word & Phrase Origins by Robert Hendrickson says that the likely origin is from the Irish sionnachuighim, '"Í play the fox" or "I play tricks."

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]The question has come up before in soc.culture.irish. I did ... alt.shenanigans and ask, but they might play pranks on you.[/nq]
[nq:1]FWIW, Encyclopedia of Word & Phrase Origins by Robert Hendrickson says that the likely origin is from the Irish sionnachuighim, '"Í play the fox" or "I play tricks."[/nq]
OED's file on "shenanigan" is rather interesting. The first four entries (1857-1862) are all from California if we count Mark Twain, who was in Nevada at the time. Then there's a big gap until 1894 when more or less continuous attestation begins. In the early uses it is always a singular (mass) noun, e.g. "there is some shenanegan going on" (1856). The plural, which is almost inevitable today, does not appear until the 1920s. There are also several writers who treat it as the participle of a verb: "no damned shinanniking"(1924), "shenanniging about in the middle of the night" (1973). This could be a back-formation, treating the last syllable as -in' (= -ing).
If it wasn't Irish, it looked to me as if it might be Algonkian (pemmican, toboggan, moccasin, Sheboygan). But I admit that time and place are not favorable to this theory.
Ross Clark

Usenet · Answer

howard richler infrared:
[nq:1]FWIW, Encyclopedia of Word & Phrase Origins by Robert Hendrickson says that the likely origin is from the Irish sionnachuighim, '"Í play the fox" or "I play tricks."[/nq]
How is that word pronounced? I would have guessed something like /SInaIm/, with a couple of inaudible consonants left to the imagination.

Peter Moylan (Email Removed) http://eepjm.newcastle.edu.au (OS/2 and eCS information and software)

Origin of shenanigan

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