Etymology of "Horsengoggle"
(Note to the dyslexic: be sure NOT to confuse this with “Google”.)
Horse and goggle --> Horse 'n' goggle --> Horsengoggle
There is a Wikipedia entry for this hand game: a kind of rock-paper-scissors, or drawing straws for a group to pick a single 'winner'.
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horsengoggle
- http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=horsengoggle
My question is, within the context of this game, where did the name come from?
My best guesses:
- A jockey on a horse who wears goggles running around a track like the circle of people?
- The goggles that a horse wears, like blinders?
- People goggling (gaping) at a horse race?
- Horsing around and goggling the results?
- Somehow related to the dice, poker, and basketball games called “horse”?
- ?
The game may have started in Germany, or from an American whose family came from Germany, so maybe “goggle” has some alternate meaning lost in translation?
Solution 1:
The term horsen is an archaic term meaning “horses”
From Middle English horsen, alternative plural of hors, equivalent to horse + -en (plural suffix). Wiktionary
The term gog (noun) is an obsolete term, which means haste; ardent desire to go, and M&W define it as stir, excitement, eagerness.
The suffix -le:
From Middle English -el, from Old English -el, -ol, -ul (agent suffix), from Proto-Germanic * -ilaz (agent suffix). Cognate with West Frisian -el, Dutch -el, Low German -el, German -el.
‘A suffix forming agent nouns from verbs’:
Intuitive Guess: horsengoggle could mean: “horses who can't wait to begin/start/go”