12 APRIL 1884, Page 14

JINGO.

[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."]

SIR,—In your Supplement of April 5th, you say that "Mr. Dobson quotes by Jingo' from a book which was published some thirty years before The Vicar of Wakefield '; but he can throw no light on the origin of the quaint ejaculation." It seems likely enough that the word is pure Basque. "Jinco " ia the Basque for " Dieu "; " jinco-houna!" for "bon Dieu!" The- Basques were famous sailors in the last century and the century. before, and our own seamen may have caught the word from them without understanding it. This explanation was given ma some years ago by a friend, who had it from the lips of the Basque scholar, Prince Lucien Bonaparte.—I am, Sir, &c., G. B.