brouhaha

English

WOTD – 19 February 2011

Etymology

Borrowing 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

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈbɹuː.hɑː.hɑː/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

brouhaha (plural brouhahas)

1. A stir; a fuss or uproar.

   It caused quite a brouhaha when the school suspended one of its top students for refusing to adhere to the dress code.

Synonyms

• (fuss, uproar): commotion, hubbub, kerfuffle, ruckus, hoo-ha

Translations

fuss, uproar

• Catalan: gatzara (ca) f, aldarull m, cridòria f, rebombori m, brogit m, avalot (ca) m
• Finnish: kohu (fi)
• French: brouhaha (fr) m
• German: Aufruhr (de) m
• Hungarian: felzúdulás (hu), cirkusz (hu), patália (hu)

• Greek: οχλαγωγία (el) f (ochlagogía), βαβούρα (el) (vavoúra)
• Persian: همهمه، غوغا
• Portuguese: bafafá m
• Russian: шуми́ха (ru) f (šumíxa), сенса́ция (ru) f (sensácija)

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French

Etymology

Disputed. Possibly from an onomatopoeic assimilation from Hebrew בָּרוּךְ הַבָּא (barúkh habá, “welcome”, literally “blessed is he who comes”)

In regards to the semantic evolution to "noisy meeting" compare with ramdam, sabbat

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bʁu.a.a/

• Audio (FR)

  (file)

Noun

brouhaha m (plural brouhahas)

1. brouhaha
   • 1865, Jules Verne, De la Terre à la Lune:

     Un brouhaha, une tempête d’exclamations accueillit ces paroles.

     A brouhaha, a gale of exclamations welcomed those words.

References

• “brouhaha” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).
• “Brouhaha” in Michael Quinion, Ballyhoo, Buckaroo, and Spuds: Ingenious Tales of Words and Their Origins, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Books in association with Penguin Books, 2004, ISBN 978-1-58834-219-5.

Further reading

• “brouhaha” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).