A mish-mash is a confused mixture of things,; a hodgepodge;
a jumbled conglomeration;
The first known use of the word is to be found in the 15th
century. It is thought to originate from
Middle English & Yiddish; Middle English mysse masche, perhaps
reduplication of mash mash; Yiddish mish-mash, perhaps reduplication of mishn
to mix.
There is also a reference to a place called Michmash in
Nehemiah 7:31 in the Hebrew Scriptures but how relevant that is I don’t know.
Mischen is German for mixing, and Mischmasch or Misch-Masch is how we call a... well, a mish-mash. I had no ideaa similar word occurs in the Old Testament!
ReplyDeleteRight now, my mind is a mish-mash of thoughts as i try to pack and get out of town. It would be entirely appropriate for this expression to be a conglomeration of words from two languages, wouldn't it?
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