Shenanigans

Posted by Victoria S Dennis on September 19, 2009 at 16:20

In Reply to: Shenanigans posted by Santosh Kumar on September 19, 2009 at 09:59:

: Can you please throw some light over the origin of the word "shenanigans"? Does it have anything to do with the Hindi words senani gan?

The origin is unknown, but as the word appears to have originated in mid-19th century California a Hindi origin is fairly unlikely. Plausible suggestions include:
1. Irish "sionnachuighm", meaning "play tricks"
2. Spanish "chanada," meaning "trick or deceit"
3. English dialect "nannicking", meaning "play the fool"
(VSD)

• Shenanigans David FG 22/September/09