brouhaha
English
Etymology
Borrowed from French brouhaha, but disputed as to where from before that. Possibly from Hebrew בָּרוּךְ הַבָּא (barúkh habá, “welcome”, literally “blessed is he who comes”).
Pronunciation
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Audio (US): (file) Audio (AU): (file)
Noun
brouhaha (plural brouhahas)
- A stir; a fuss or uproar.
- Synonyms: commotion, hubbub, kerfuffle; see also Thesaurus:commotion
- It caused quite a brouhaha when the school suspended one of its top students for refusing to adhere to the dress code.
- 1981, “Elephant Talk”, in Discipline, performed by King Crimson:
- Talk, it's only talk / Babble, burble, banter / Bicker, bicker, bicker / Brouhaha, balderdash, ballyhoo / It's only talk / Back talk
- 1999, “The Brouhaha”, in Hello Nasty, performed by Beastie Boys:
- What's all the fanfare, what's the to do / We're known to bring the hullabaloo / On stage or at the spa / Guaranteed we bring the brouhaha / ‘Cause it's a brouhaha
Translations
fuss, uproar
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French
Etymology
Disputed. Possibly by assimilation from Hebrew בָּרוּךְ הַבָּא (barúkh habá, “blessed (be) who comes”), a collocation occurring in Psalm 118:26 and an interjection meaning “welcome” in Modern Hebrew. An alternative theory holds that the origin is onomatopoeic.
In regards to the semantic evolution to “noisy meeting”, compare ramdam, sabbat.
Pronunciation
Noun
brouhaha m (plural brouhahas)
- brouhaha
- 1865, Jules Verne, chapter 2, in De la Terre à la Lune [From the Earth to the Moon], J. Hetzel et Compagnie, published 1868:
- Un brouhaha, une tempête d’exclamations accueillit ces paroles.
- A brouhaha, a gale of exclamations welcomed those words.
References
- “brouhaha”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
- Michael Quinion (2004) “Brouhaha”, in Ballyhoo, Buckaroo, and Spuds: Ingenious Tales of Words and Their Origins, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Books in association with Penguin Books, →ISBN.
Further reading
- “brouhaha”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Categories:
- English terms borrowed from French
- English terms derived from French
- English terms derived from Hebrew
- English 3-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio pronunciation
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with usage examples
- English terms with quotations
- French terms derived from Hebrew
- French onomatopoeias
- French 3-syllable words
- French terms with IPA pronunciation
- French terms with audio pronunciation
- French lemmas
- French nouns
- French countable nouns
- French masculine nouns
- French terms with quotations