Smashing - Etymology

0 Personally I am doubtful as "smashing" in the sense of great or super only dates from 1911, and if it really came from Gaelic, I would expect it to have a much older history. "Smash" itself has an unknown etymology, and is probably onomatopoeic.0-

0 that means it only became recognised by the oed in 191102br
00its possible it was used in scotland before then02br
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00it certainly is more commonly used in scotland than other parts of the uk0-

0 Here's the entry from the Dictionary of the Scottish Language: 05000/ 02br
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00I see nothing to link it to the Gaelic, which was not spoken in much of Scotland anyhow. Wikipedia is not 100% accurate.0230hrefhttp://www.dsl.ac.uk/dsl

In Irish

"Is maith sin" literally "Thats good".

I have lived on the West side of the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland for ten years. I have been slowly getting a handle on the local Gaelic language, which is frequently spoken (probably more than English) in common meetings between people, in the pub or at the filling station, etc. The phrase " 's math sin" was used often and I could not but help think that it sounded just like

Being Irish myself, I had heard it word came from after 1850s onwards (becoming more popular at turn of century as the joke/expression spread). In mid-1800s more and more Irish were made speak English as a first language. Many were tenant farmers and servants to English Landlords (and more & more of these Landlords returned to England when the Irish policical situation changed (early 1900s).

In fact, Gaelic was widely spoken throughout Scotland apart from the most extreme parts of the North East and South East - you only have to look at the place names, e.g. Kil..., Dun,,,., Ard...., Auch...., etc. It was the language of the Court right up until the times of Malcolm IV (Canmore) whose English wife Margaret could not and did not want to speak Gaelic and so to appease his new wife, Kin

In my opinion, this has no relation to Gaelic. The word "smash" came into being around the 1700's, and its etymology is vague, which typically suggests an imitative origin, perhaps from the word "mash," which is an ancient English word. So this appears to be a purely English word, origin-wise. (And in any case, there are few English words borrowed from Gaelic.)

From there, there's the

try the Irish Gaelic dictionary, is maith sin means the same here, so its probably from Irish speakers?

"When you smash something, you're propelled by emotions similar to when you exclaim the excellence of something."

Remind me not to get on your good side.