Myths & disputes

gazebo

Gazebo is most likely an 18th-century English joke: 'gaze' with the Latin future ending -ēbō, so 'I shall look', on the model of lavābō 'I shall wash'.

Weakest linkPossible

The story you may have heard

The extracted draft traced gazebo to Arabic qaṣaba 'fortress, casbah'. That is one of several guesses (others: Hispano-Arabic qushaybah, 'some oriental word'); none has documentary support, and the mock-Latin 'I shall gaze' is the explanation the OED favours, though it too is unproven.

The road to English

1380Middle English

Hops are evenly spaced; labels show the year each form is first attested.

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