Talk:cobber
Latest comment: 3 years ago by IVaughanC in topic Etymology
Etymology
[edit]"It is proposed, without proof..." - unless this can be referenced to a reliable source doing the proposing, this reads like original research to me. Thryduulf 23:00, 8 July 2007 (UTC)
- Yes. I found this, which may be a good replacement:
- "Possibly from dialectal cob, to take a liking to."
- The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.--Tyranny Sue 10:21, 13 April 2009 (UTC)
- Could it instead be from Middle English cobbe and related to Modern English cob in the sense of "A great man, big man, leading man; in modern dialect expressing pre-eminence, as ‘chief’, ‘leader’, rather than state"? This quotation is from the OED entry for cob, n.1, sense I.1.a.--IVaughanC (talk) 01:32, 28 November 2020 (UTC)
Never heard 'em say "cobber"
[edit]Lived in Oz (pronounced Oz like the Wizard, and they're Ozzies, "z", not "s") 4-1/2 yr in the mid-70s, and never heard anyone say "cobber". It's "Mate": "G'day Mate!", and "Don't come the raw prawn with me, mate!" ("Get off my case, buddy").
Stone the crows and Long live The Lucky Country!