Gotham

See also: gotham

English

Etymology

“Homestead where goats are kept”, from Old English gāt (“goat”) +‎ hām (“home”).

• (New York City nickname): First used 1807 by Washington Irving in his Salmagundi Papers: see the quotation.

The original pronunciation had /th/ with later loss of /h/. The pronunciation with /θ/ is a spelling pronunciation that arose from a misreading of th as a digraph.

Pronunciation

• (nickname of New York, setting of the Batman franchise): IPA^(key): /ˈɡɒθəm/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (English village): IPA^(key): /ˈɡəʊtəm/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (English village) Rhymes: -əʊtəm

Proper noun

Gotham

2. Nickname for New York City: a major city in New York, United States.
   • [1807 April 18, Will Wizard [pseudonym; Washington Irving [et al.]], “Saturday, April 18, 1807. On Style.”, in Salmagundi: Or, The Whim-whams and Opinions of Launcelot Langstaff, Esq. and Others, number 8, London: J[ohn] Limbird, […], published 1824, →OCLC, page 52, column 2:

     This passage of the erudite Linkum was applied to the city of Gotham, of which he was once Lord Mayor, as appears by his picture hung up in the hall of that ancient city;—but his observation fits this best of all possible cities "to a hair." It is a melancholy truth that this same New-York, though the most charming, pleasant, polished, and praise-worthy city under the sun, and in a word the bonne bouche of the universe, is most shockingly ill-natured, and sarcastic, and wickedly given to all manner of backslidings; for which we are very sorry, indeed.

     Written as a satire about New York City.]

   • 2010, Jared Koch, Alex Van Buren, Clean Plates Manhattan 2011 […] , page 99:

     Naturally sweetened desserts—delicious ones—have several hiding places in Gotham, and the Upper East Side's Candle Café is among the best.

3. A village and civil parish in Rushcliffe borough, Nottinghamshire, England, associated in folklore with insanity (OS grid ref SK5330).
4. (fiction) Ellipsis of Gotham City: a fictional city serving as the primary setting for the Batman franchise.

Derived terms

• Gothamite

See also

• Bedlam (likewise has insanity overtones)

Further reading

• Nicknames of New York City on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Gotham, Nottinghamshire on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Gotham City on Wikipedia.Wikipedia