Etymograph

English

katzenjammer

Katzenjammer comes from German Katzenjammer ‘hangover’.

  1. Germanc. 1650–presentKatzenjammer‘hangover’literally ‘the wailing of cats’
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1909katzenjammer

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Germanc. 1650–presentKatzenjammer‘hangover’literally ‘the wailing of cats’
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1909katzenjammer

Earliest quotation: 1909, O. Henry pseudonym; William Sydney Porte, Two Renegades: “Tell you the truth, I've had an intimation from…”

A compound of Katze ‘cat’ + -n- + Jammer ‘wailing’

Proto-Germanic *kattǭ ‘female cat’

Proto-West Germanic *kattā ‘cat’

Middle High German katze ‘cat’

German Katze ‘cat’

The story

Borrowed from German Katzenjammer (“hangover”, literally “the wailing of cats”); a determinative compound formed from Katze (‘cat’) + -n- + Jammer (‘wailing; lamentation’).

Every English word from German Katzenjammer

Today it means

noun A hangover.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / German Katzenjammer / katzenjammer

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