Re: [tied] Get

07-09-03 01:01, ehlsmith wrote:

> --- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Ben McGarr" <celteuskara@...>
> wrote:
>> --- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "aquila_grande"

>>> I wonder is there any link with the pejorative English word "get"
>>> or "git"?
>>
>> The meaning is something like "devil" or "swine" or generally an
>> unpleasant [but almost always male] person. E.g. "You cheeky
> little
>> get!" "What's that old git doing, over there?"
>>
>
>
> Supposedly it means "bastard", from "get" (used as a noun) i.e. one
> begotten.

The oldest OED example of its use with this meaning (qualified as
Scottish and northern, and also spelt <geet> or <gait(t)>) dates back to
1508. The earliest documentation of other meanings ('something gained,
booty', 'offspring, progeny', 'begetting, procreation') is from the
fourteenth century. It's of course deverbal, as Ned said.

Piotr