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Finagle

Posted: Wed Mar 23, 2011 7:00 pm
by David Myer
To acquire deviously. Lovely word. I wonder about its origins?

Apocrypha

Posted: Wed Mar 23, 2011 8:15 pm
by MTC
Eponymous-- a Finn named Agle.

Finagle

Posted: Wed Mar 23, 2011 10:35 pm
by David Myer
Nice try! Agle was a Dutchman!

Posted: Thu Mar 24, 2011 12:30 am
by MTC
He was a "Forest Finn" living in Agle, Norway.

Posted: Thu Mar 24, 2011 1:28 am
by David Myer
I was given a book of eponyms and started to believe the extraordinary stories about the origins of the people behind the words. But when I got to "Madame Boudoir", I became suspicious. The word actually comes from the French (not surprisingly) 'bouder' to sulk.

I suspect the source of your Finn called Agle is a similar concoction.

Merriam-Webster dictionary offers:

Origin of FINAGLE
perhaps alteration of fainaigue to renege
First Known Use: circa 1924

And other on-line dictionaries seem to agree. I don't really go for that idea so I was hoping for a more convincing idea. But I suspect Finn Agle is complete fabrication!

Posted: Thu Mar 24, 2011 4:07 am
by MTC
Tongue in cheek all the way! Thanks for bing a sport and good to know about the real origin of finagle. Unable to finagle, I guess...

Posted: Thu Mar 24, 2011 5:15 am
by David Myer
Lovely! Nice try. Nearly got me. I had to do a bit of research to assuage my doubts!