My old sa-go-sha

BenEadir

Hi all,

My father always referred to me or anyone he had a close relationship with as "my old sagosha". I have no idea how to spell sa-go-sha and whilst I believe it is a term of endearment to someone you love I would like to find out what it actually means and where it originates from which is why I'm looking to my fellow Boardsies here to help me out.

I look forward to being illuminated!!

Ben

mathepac

My own personal belief is that the word is of latin origin, the official name of the sago plant / tree. 'Sagotia' grows in India so we are back to the Colonial influences on Hiberno-English perhaps.

BenEadir

Thanks Mathepac,

Had you heard the phrase before?

Anyone else have any thoughts on it's origin and meaning in use in Ireland over the past century or so?

Ben

morton

http://www.slang.ie/index.php?county=Dublin&entry=segosha

Peregrinus

It's generally regarded as characteristically Dublin speech, and when written is usually spelt "segotia" or "segocia". It turns up in Finnegans Wake as "skeowsha"; FW was published in 1939 but was written over a long period and presumably reflects usage common in Dublin when Joyce lived there. It turns up as "segotia" in The Dalkey Archive (1964). A racehorse called "Me Oul Segocia" ran in the English Grand National in 1966.

The origin is unknown. One theory is that the word was originally applied to children, and that it's a corruption of mon chere gosse ("my dear boy") or something similar. I'm not convinced.

mathepac

BenThere wrote: »

Thanks Mathepac,

Had you heard the phrase before? ...

Don't thank me, my opinion could be just poo.

Yes I've heard it before and always associated it with Dublin / Dublinese. Behan & Kavanagh (?) as well as Joyce and Flann O'Brien have used it.

I'm not convinced by the "mon chere gosse" proposition either. I've heard it before but it doesn't work due to the mix of genders, although "gosse" is redolent of "garsoon", "gossun", "gossur", "garsun".

BenEadir

Thanks very much all, much appreciated.

Ben

An Sionnach Glic

There's an entry for it in Terence Patrick Dolan's 'Dictionary of Hiberno-English' (p234). The spelling given is 'segocia', 'segotia' or 'skeowsha'. It states that the origin is uncertain, but that it has been speculated that it's an anglicisation of the Irish "Seo dhuitse!" (here it is you are!) or the French word 'sacoche' (gaelicised as 'sogaiste'), meaning wallet, money-bag, saddle-bag.