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Origin and history of Bohunk

Bohunk(n.)

U.S. derogatory slang for "lower-class immigrant from Central or Eastern Europe," by 1899, probably from Bohemian (see Bohemia) + a distortion of Hungarian (see Hungary).

Entries linking to Bohunk

central European kingdom, mid-15c., Beeme, from French Boheme "Bohemia," from Latin Boiohaemum (Tacitus), from Boii, the Celtic people who settled in what is now Bohemia (and were driven from it by the Germanic Marcomans early 1c.; singular Boius, fem. Boia, perhaps literally "warriors") + Proto-Germanic *haimaz "home" (see home (n.)). Attested from 1861 in meaning "community of artists and social Bohemians" or in reference to a district where they live (see bohemian).

c. 1300, from Medieval Latin Hungaria (also source of French Hongrie), probably literally meaning "land of the Huns," who ruled a vast territory from there under Attila in 5c. The people's name for themselves we transliterate as Magyar. Middle English uses the same words for both Attila's people and the Magyars, who appeared in Europe in 9c. and established a kingdom in 1000. From the same source as Medieval Greek Oungroi, German Ungarn, Russian Vengriya, Ukrainian Ugorshchina. The Turkish name for the country, Macaristan, reflects the indigenous name. Related: Hungarian (1550s as a noun, c. 1600 as an adjective).

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    Trends of Bohunk

    adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/ with a 7-year moving average; ngrams are probably unreliable.

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