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Smashing - Etymology

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Latest post Tue, Apr 14 2009 10:57 PM by Anonymous. 4 replies.
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Anonymous  +  318770 Tue, 23 Jan 07 11:09 AM
smashing - excellent or fine

it is possible the word derives from the Scottish Gaelic 'is-math-sin'
which means good or fine and is pronounced sma-shin,
Anonymous
Feebs11  +  319011 Tue, 23 Jan 07 09:53 PM
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.
Feebs11
Joined on Thu, Nov 23 2006
UK
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Anonymous, 2 yr 303 days ago
that means it only became recognised by the oed in 1911
its possible it was used in scotland before then

it certainly is more commonly used in scotland than other parts of the uk

Feebs11  +  319352 Wed, 24 Jan 07 04:15 PM
Here's the entry from the Dictionary of the Scottish Language:   http://www.dsl.ac.uk/dsl/

I see nothing to link it to the Gaelic, which was not spoken in much of Scotland anyhow. Wikipedia is not 100% accurate.
Feebs11
Anonymous, 222 days ago
In Irish


"Is maith sin"  literally "Thats good".

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