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Miscellaneous

What is the origin of the word hiccup?

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1570s, hickop, earlier hicket, hyckock, "a word meant to imitate the sound produced by the convulsion of the diaphragm". Compare French hoquet, Danish hikke, Persian hikuk, Hindi hichki, etc. An Old English word for it was ælfsogoða, so called because hiccups were thought to be caused by elves.

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