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![]() | On 1 December 2023, it was proposed that this article be moved from Yo to Yo (greeting). The result of the discussion was moved. |
Should this entry have a link to
Yoism?
-
Loadmaster
15:20, 11 July 2006 (UTC)
Yeh, i think it should at least make a link to Yoism.. This article really needs to have some formatting, its just a block of text. (I would do it but im not very good at 'wikify'ing...) Samoen 16:55, 27 August 2006 (UTC)
Same here. i wish i could, but heh. V.V. hopefuly someone does it. Peace Out Yo!
-
EvilHom3r September 25, 2006. 6:07 AM (EST)
Since when did "yo" begin in the 1960s? I've seen many 50s movies where American GIs in WWII would respond to the calling of roll with the word. That proves that the phrase is older than Pyle's usage, and would strongly suggest that it was in usage by at least the mid 1940s in that context. Some more serious research needs to be done into the origins and history. - Plasticbadge 19:24, 28 December 2006 (UTC)
I lived in New England from about 1976 to 1984, and never ever heard anyone use the term "yo" till i saw Battlestar Galactica, the original tv series, which also introduced the term "frack". Aside from a few experimentel uses at school after that show aired, nobody used the term yo again until it became popular in rap music.
Um f-y-i most wwII movies weren't made in wwII. they were made after it ended when theusage was more common. you should use a more reliable critisizm before trying to prove the article wrong than movies —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 204.186.112.1 ( talk) 14:37, 8 February 2007 (UTC).
![]() | This page has been
transwikied to
Wiktionary. The article has content that is useful at Wiktionary. Therefore the article can be found at either here or here ( logs 1 logs 2.) Note: This means that the article has been copied to the Wiktionary Transwiki namespace for evaluation and formatting. It does not mean that the article is in the Wiktionary main namespace, or that it has been removed from Wikipedia's. Furthermore, the Wiktionarians might delete the article from Wiktionary if they do not find it to be appropriate for the Wiktionary. Removing this tag will usually trigger CopyToWiktionaryBot to re-transwiki the entry. This article should have been removed from Category:Copy to Wiktionary and should not be re-added there. |
-- CopyToWiktionaryBot 05:22, 10 March 2007 (UTC)
According to the book, Black English by JL Dilliard, which I read many years ago, it is of Dutch Origin. I am going to have to go back to the source to check it out, but I am pretty sure that this is the case. It was originally spelled "Joe." In Black English, there were sample of writings with this spelling contained, dating back to the forties. I am going to track the book down and check it out because my memory is a little fuzzy, unless someone finds it first. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 24.189.13.220 ( talk) 02:28, 26 April 2007 (UTC).
Should this be transwiki'ed to wiktionary? Sarsaparilla 16:45, 2 December 2007 (UTC)
I know there's a use of "yo" in Japanese traditional music, but it goes more like "yoo-!". Can anyone please find relevant sources to this and add it to the article? 22:51, 9 May 2008 (UTC) White Mage Cid
I'm not buying the (unsourced) explanation that "Yo" stems from Italian "Io". Italian "Io" is pronounced as ['i:.ɔ], two syllables, starting with a long and stressed "EE" sound, and an open and very short "o" sound. (EE-o) "Yo", on the other hand, is pronounced as [joʊ], one syllable, with a short y and a longer oh following, much more like Spanish "yo", which also means "I". (there is, however, in southern Italy, an interjection sounding much the same way as the American counterpart, without th "y" sound: O! [oʊ], which actually is used in the same way as American "yo", (as in "O! Michele!" which might have migrated over to America that way.)
The history, etymology, and origins not only are mostly unreferenced, but highly speculative and in some cases unlikely to be true. I would set this article to be either wholly re-written or at the very least it needs to be better sourced with a modicum of scholarly rigor. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 204.124.16.11 ( talk) 15:42, 25 September 2013 (UTC)
This whole article is speculative, especially the sections taken as gospel simply because some academic decided to write a book about it. 24rhhtr7 ( talk) 23:19, 25 January 2014 (UTC)
For a while, we had the correct etymology of "Yo" listed on the page under the etymology section. However, for whatever reason, user JesseRafe has vehemently insisted on keeping the folk etymology currently listed on the page, and has reverted any attempts of me trying to restore the actual etymology to the page. My last attempt (where I included many references) to restore the actual etymology to the page was reverted by user AussieLegend, on the grounds that my restoration was done in a way that reverted other unrelated, meaningful contributions by other editors. I have thenceforth not made any further attempts to correct the etymology section, on the grounds that I figured JesseRafe would be unlikely to accept any explanations from me, references or ne.
Now, I have on multiple occasions suggested to JesseRafe that he open a discussion rather than constantly revert my edits if he honestly believed that the Italian etymology was the correct one. However, he refused to do so.
Therefore, I have decided that I would open a discussion here, as I'd rather not allow folk etymologies to distort the perception of readers if we can prevent them from doing so. Tharthandorf Aquanashi ( talk) 18:56, 8 November 2014 (UTC)
Let's analyze one after the other the "refs" added by some funny person as supposedly being published proof for 'yo' being cognate with an ancient form on 'yes' in english: the link http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=no doesn't mention AT ALL 'yo' in anay manner at all, it has nothing to do in the wikipedia article.
The following "proof" http://digitalcommons.butler.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2727&context=wordways , presented in a pdf document written by a certain "Brooke Maxey" that relates yo to old germanic forms of modern 'yes' , is not a reliable source. Who the heck is Brooke Maxey? From what I read, he is an obscure writer who has apparently written papers and articles. That is not something valid for wikipedia as it not peer reviewed, unless it is presented as a possible theory amongst others. I'm sorry, by the way, he only said in his paper (if you took the time to read it) that 'yo' was considered being a slang equivalent of 'yes' in southern military schools.
As for the next ref presented as proof for "yes" , http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=yeoman , it si etymonline's entry for 'yeoman' and in absolutely no way shape or form does the etymology of yeoman relate to any form of "yes" if you read the entry : it relates to the ancient versions of "young" in english, not "yes", as the entry specifies. The prefix yeo- in yeoman comes from various germanic terms ga,ge, gea, gau, gawi all relating to the countryside, the village, as in frisian 'gaman'. Unfortunately the article does not relate to the interjection 'yo ! ' anyhow.
Now,concerning page 157 of the book " Words in Dictionaries and History: Essays in Honour of R.W. McConchie" , I do have this book and page 157 is just the beginning of a chapter that tries to show the various attmpts of explaining the etymology of 'yeoman' comparing folk etymology, early 17th century explanations and so on. NOWHERE is 'yo' as an interjection explained nor its etymology considered, only the prefix 'yeo-" in the word 'yeoman' is considered: the possibilities of the prefix meaning young, gay (in the sense of merry) IF someone wants me to copy the page here in text form, I'll do it since googlebooks does not have the page in free viewing.(pages 157-159 are hidden). More on the subject: the book in question speaks about the theory of yeo- in yeoman as cognate with "yes" only at page 160. There it is said that (amongst dozens of other theories for the etymoliogy of yeoman) an author named Mahn wrote for Webster in 1864 that the prefix yeo was cognate with old english forms of yes ( quote from page 160 " 'Mahn (in Webster 1864) also traced yeo- to a prefix. However, his view dif‑fered from Grimm’s, for he identified yeo- with ye- in Engl. yes. Since yea, of which yes is an extended variant, continues OE gē, related to ja in Gothic, German, and Dutch, the resulting meaning of yeoman (from an affirmative particle and man) has little to recommend it. ' " ). The book then gives on page 161 a conclusion on the "most likely" etymology for yeoman and especially the prefix yeo: apparently in old english the prefix "oe" was added to mean " that comes after", so that yeoman simply means "one who comes after a man" in the sense of a squire, a servant, a peasant who serves a noble.
Yes, you just read it, in the book, they do NOT agree with this funky idea of yeo- in yeoman related to "yes" . Alas, the whole wikipedia entry for "yo" is taken almost verbatim from page 160 and twisted around, even refenecing this page as being a support for yo coming form an old form of "yes" and THIS is where the trick resides: a peculiar and isolated theory for the etymology of yeoman that has been generally dismissed since then (reminder: 1864). Because when you look at Oxford , Merriam-Webster and Etymonline's entries for "yo" they have NO ACTUAL OFFICIAL ETYMOLOGY for the intejection yo, just the date it's been used for the first time (15th century) and the fact that it has something to do with Old English. Which means the person who wrote the section on wikipedia is just bamboozling everyone with his "yo equals old english form of yes" by using refs that ion no manner prove it (the worse one being the etymonline page for "no" that is out of subject since it doesn't even mention "yo" nor any ancient forms) , the only ref supposedly proving it being an obscure article (by "Brooke Maxey"...) with nothing to connect the said article to (is it a book? a newspaper or magazine article? an excerpt froma thesis? just a personal note? ...) . — Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.240.163.245 ( talk) 19:51, 18 February 2015 (UTC)
NOTE: I have to go somewhere, I'll be back later. Tharthandorf Aquanashi ( talk) 22:10, 18 February 2015 (UTC)
Since a certain individual insisted upon wasting my time proving something that is already proven, I am going to look through every single nautical grammar and wordbook that was published in the 17th and 18th centuries:
The first one (which I have listed in the article now) has the full citation of:
Smith, John: The Seaman's Grammar and Dictionary. R. Mount, 1705. 163 pp. Identical to the 1692 edition. First edition 1626. Tharthandorf Aquanashi ( talk) 17:31, 19 February 2015 (UTC)
That the only actually correct etymology (from guaglione) is yet again not on the page. Just totally shocked.
24rhhtr7 ( talk) 12:23, 5 May 2015 (UTC)
In this edit [1] and edit summary, User:W124l29 has written in wikipedia's voice that the word "yo" has been misappropriated by African American musicians. The only sources seem to be a wikilink to cultural appropriation and a link to "mis-appropriation" in an online amateur dictionary of etymology. In addition he has added five consecutive identical references to the word "yo" in the same online dictionary. None of these are reliable sources. The phrase about "cultural diffusion and dialectal loan word" is also W124l29's own creation. He includes as his source a link to a short online article by the academic linguist Walt Wolfram which does not mention the word "yo". These and other additions by W124l29 are not improvements to the article. Mathsci ( talk) 11:09, 20 April 2016 (UTC)
echo is off — Preceding unsigned comment added by Yo666 ( talk • contribs) 01:12, 3 April 2017 (UTC)
![]() | This
edit request to
Yo has been answered. Set the |answered= or |ans= parameter to no to reactivate your request. |
I think that this is the true etymology for this term as it relates to the Philadelphia accent... In the Neapolitan dialect "guaglione" (pronounced guahl-YO-nay) signified a young man. The chiefly unlettered immigrants shortened that to guahl-YO, which they pronounced whal-YO. That was inevitably further shortened to yo. The common greeting among young Italian-American males was "Hey, whal-YO!", and then simply, "Yo!" And so it remains today. 65.107.122.222 ( talk) 18:45, 2 May 2017 (UTC)
I added the following: yo is used "to get someone's attention (it is used this way in the Wikipedia Template:yo)".
This was reverted https://en.wikipedia.org/?title=Yo&oldid=prev&diff=828091349 deisenbe ( talk) 14:49, 28 February 2018 (UTC)
The result of the move request was: moved. ( closed by non-admin page mover) NmWTfs85lXusaybq ( talk) 07:51, 8 December 2023 (UTC)
– No primary topic for this simple two-letter combination. Hard to measure, but no evidence that this has more long-term significance than the Spanish pronoun. Pageviews only barely clear the field. Hameltion ( talk | contribs) 19:52, 1 December 2023 (UTC)
![]() | This article was nominated for deletion on March 10, 2007. The result of the discussion was keep. |
![]() | This article is rated C-class on Wikipedia's
content assessment scale. It is of interest to the following WikiProjects: | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
![]() | On 1 December 2023, it was proposed that this article be moved from Yo to Yo (greeting). The result of the discussion was moved. |
Should this entry have a link to
Yoism?
-
Loadmaster
15:20, 11 July 2006 (UTC)
Yeh, i think it should at least make a link to Yoism.. This article really needs to have some formatting, its just a block of text. (I would do it but im not very good at 'wikify'ing...) Samoen 16:55, 27 August 2006 (UTC)
Same here. i wish i could, but heh. V.V. hopefuly someone does it. Peace Out Yo!
-
EvilHom3r September 25, 2006. 6:07 AM (EST)
Since when did "yo" begin in the 1960s? I've seen many 50s movies where American GIs in WWII would respond to the calling of roll with the word. That proves that the phrase is older than Pyle's usage, and would strongly suggest that it was in usage by at least the mid 1940s in that context. Some more serious research needs to be done into the origins and history. - Plasticbadge 19:24, 28 December 2006 (UTC)
I lived in New England from about 1976 to 1984, and never ever heard anyone use the term "yo" till i saw Battlestar Galactica, the original tv series, which also introduced the term "frack". Aside from a few experimentel uses at school after that show aired, nobody used the term yo again until it became popular in rap music.
Um f-y-i most wwII movies weren't made in wwII. they were made after it ended when theusage was more common. you should use a more reliable critisizm before trying to prove the article wrong than movies —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 204.186.112.1 ( talk) 14:37, 8 February 2007 (UTC).
![]() | This page has been
transwikied to
Wiktionary. The article has content that is useful at Wiktionary. Therefore the article can be found at either here or here ( logs 1 logs 2.) Note: This means that the article has been copied to the Wiktionary Transwiki namespace for evaluation and formatting. It does not mean that the article is in the Wiktionary main namespace, or that it has been removed from Wikipedia's. Furthermore, the Wiktionarians might delete the article from Wiktionary if they do not find it to be appropriate for the Wiktionary. Removing this tag will usually trigger CopyToWiktionaryBot to re-transwiki the entry. This article should have been removed from Category:Copy to Wiktionary and should not be re-added there. |
-- CopyToWiktionaryBot 05:22, 10 March 2007 (UTC)
According to the book, Black English by JL Dilliard, which I read many years ago, it is of Dutch Origin. I am going to have to go back to the source to check it out, but I am pretty sure that this is the case. It was originally spelled "Joe." In Black English, there were sample of writings with this spelling contained, dating back to the forties. I am going to track the book down and check it out because my memory is a little fuzzy, unless someone finds it first. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 24.189.13.220 ( talk) 02:28, 26 April 2007 (UTC).
Should this be transwiki'ed to wiktionary? Sarsaparilla 16:45, 2 December 2007 (UTC)
I know there's a use of "yo" in Japanese traditional music, but it goes more like "yoo-!". Can anyone please find relevant sources to this and add it to the article? 22:51, 9 May 2008 (UTC) White Mage Cid
I'm not buying the (unsourced) explanation that "Yo" stems from Italian "Io". Italian "Io" is pronounced as ['i:.ɔ], two syllables, starting with a long and stressed "EE" sound, and an open and very short "o" sound. (EE-o) "Yo", on the other hand, is pronounced as [joʊ], one syllable, with a short y and a longer oh following, much more like Spanish "yo", which also means "I". (there is, however, in southern Italy, an interjection sounding much the same way as the American counterpart, without th "y" sound: O! [oʊ], which actually is used in the same way as American "yo", (as in "O! Michele!" which might have migrated over to America that way.)
The history, etymology, and origins not only are mostly unreferenced, but highly speculative and in some cases unlikely to be true. I would set this article to be either wholly re-written or at the very least it needs to be better sourced with a modicum of scholarly rigor. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 204.124.16.11 ( talk) 15:42, 25 September 2013 (UTC)
This whole article is speculative, especially the sections taken as gospel simply because some academic decided to write a book about it. 24rhhtr7 ( talk) 23:19, 25 January 2014 (UTC)
For a while, we had the correct etymology of "Yo" listed on the page under the etymology section. However, for whatever reason, user JesseRafe has vehemently insisted on keeping the folk etymology currently listed on the page, and has reverted any attempts of me trying to restore the actual etymology to the page. My last attempt (where I included many references) to restore the actual etymology to the page was reverted by user AussieLegend, on the grounds that my restoration was done in a way that reverted other unrelated, meaningful contributions by other editors. I have thenceforth not made any further attempts to correct the etymology section, on the grounds that I figured JesseRafe would be unlikely to accept any explanations from me, references or ne.
Now, I have on multiple occasions suggested to JesseRafe that he open a discussion rather than constantly revert my edits if he honestly believed that the Italian etymology was the correct one. However, he refused to do so.
Therefore, I have decided that I would open a discussion here, as I'd rather not allow folk etymologies to distort the perception of readers if we can prevent them from doing so. Tharthandorf Aquanashi ( talk) 18:56, 8 November 2014 (UTC)
Let's analyze one after the other the "refs" added by some funny person as supposedly being published proof for 'yo' being cognate with an ancient form on 'yes' in english: the link http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=no doesn't mention AT ALL 'yo' in anay manner at all, it has nothing to do in the wikipedia article.
The following "proof" http://digitalcommons.butler.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2727&context=wordways , presented in a pdf document written by a certain "Brooke Maxey" that relates yo to old germanic forms of modern 'yes' , is not a reliable source. Who the heck is Brooke Maxey? From what I read, he is an obscure writer who has apparently written papers and articles. That is not something valid for wikipedia as it not peer reviewed, unless it is presented as a possible theory amongst others. I'm sorry, by the way, he only said in his paper (if you took the time to read it) that 'yo' was considered being a slang equivalent of 'yes' in southern military schools.
As for the next ref presented as proof for "yes" , http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=yeoman , it si etymonline's entry for 'yeoman' and in absolutely no way shape or form does the etymology of yeoman relate to any form of "yes" if you read the entry : it relates to the ancient versions of "young" in english, not "yes", as the entry specifies. The prefix yeo- in yeoman comes from various germanic terms ga,ge, gea, gau, gawi all relating to the countryside, the village, as in frisian 'gaman'. Unfortunately the article does not relate to the interjection 'yo ! ' anyhow.
Now,concerning page 157 of the book " Words in Dictionaries and History: Essays in Honour of R.W. McConchie" , I do have this book and page 157 is just the beginning of a chapter that tries to show the various attmpts of explaining the etymology of 'yeoman' comparing folk etymology, early 17th century explanations and so on. NOWHERE is 'yo' as an interjection explained nor its etymology considered, only the prefix 'yeo-" in the word 'yeoman' is considered: the possibilities of the prefix meaning young, gay (in the sense of merry) IF someone wants me to copy the page here in text form, I'll do it since googlebooks does not have the page in free viewing.(pages 157-159 are hidden). More on the subject: the book in question speaks about the theory of yeo- in yeoman as cognate with "yes" only at page 160. There it is said that (amongst dozens of other theories for the etymoliogy of yeoman) an author named Mahn wrote for Webster in 1864 that the prefix yeo was cognate with old english forms of yes ( quote from page 160 " 'Mahn (in Webster 1864) also traced yeo- to a prefix. However, his view dif‑fered from Grimm’s, for he identified yeo- with ye- in Engl. yes. Since yea, of which yes is an extended variant, continues OE gē, related to ja in Gothic, German, and Dutch, the resulting meaning of yeoman (from an affirmative particle and man) has little to recommend it. ' " ). The book then gives on page 161 a conclusion on the "most likely" etymology for yeoman and especially the prefix yeo: apparently in old english the prefix "oe" was added to mean " that comes after", so that yeoman simply means "one who comes after a man" in the sense of a squire, a servant, a peasant who serves a noble.
Yes, you just read it, in the book, they do NOT agree with this funky idea of yeo- in yeoman related to "yes" . Alas, the whole wikipedia entry for "yo" is taken almost verbatim from page 160 and twisted around, even refenecing this page as being a support for yo coming form an old form of "yes" and THIS is where the trick resides: a peculiar and isolated theory for the etymology of yeoman that has been generally dismissed since then (reminder: 1864). Because when you look at Oxford , Merriam-Webster and Etymonline's entries for "yo" they have NO ACTUAL OFFICIAL ETYMOLOGY for the intejection yo, just the date it's been used for the first time (15th century) and the fact that it has something to do with Old English. Which means the person who wrote the section on wikipedia is just bamboozling everyone with his "yo equals old english form of yes" by using refs that ion no manner prove it (the worse one being the etymonline page for "no" that is out of subject since it doesn't even mention "yo" nor any ancient forms) , the only ref supposedly proving it being an obscure article (by "Brooke Maxey"...) with nothing to connect the said article to (is it a book? a newspaper or magazine article? an excerpt froma thesis? just a personal note? ...) . — Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.240.163.245 ( talk) 19:51, 18 February 2015 (UTC)
NOTE: I have to go somewhere, I'll be back later. Tharthandorf Aquanashi ( talk) 22:10, 18 February 2015 (UTC)
Since a certain individual insisted upon wasting my time proving something that is already proven, I am going to look through every single nautical grammar and wordbook that was published in the 17th and 18th centuries:
The first one (which I have listed in the article now) has the full citation of:
Smith, John: The Seaman's Grammar and Dictionary. R. Mount, 1705. 163 pp. Identical to the 1692 edition. First edition 1626. Tharthandorf Aquanashi ( talk) 17:31, 19 February 2015 (UTC)
That the only actually correct etymology (from guaglione) is yet again not on the page. Just totally shocked.
24rhhtr7 ( talk) 12:23, 5 May 2015 (UTC)
In this edit [1] and edit summary, User:W124l29 has written in wikipedia's voice that the word "yo" has been misappropriated by African American musicians. The only sources seem to be a wikilink to cultural appropriation and a link to "mis-appropriation" in an online amateur dictionary of etymology. In addition he has added five consecutive identical references to the word "yo" in the same online dictionary. None of these are reliable sources. The phrase about "cultural diffusion and dialectal loan word" is also W124l29's own creation. He includes as his source a link to a short online article by the academic linguist Walt Wolfram which does not mention the word "yo". These and other additions by W124l29 are not improvements to the article. Mathsci ( talk) 11:09, 20 April 2016 (UTC)
echo is off — Preceding unsigned comment added by Yo666 ( talk • contribs) 01:12, 3 April 2017 (UTC)
![]() | This
edit request to
Yo has been answered. Set the |answered= or |ans= parameter to no to reactivate your request. |
I think that this is the true etymology for this term as it relates to the Philadelphia accent... In the Neapolitan dialect "guaglione" (pronounced guahl-YO-nay) signified a young man. The chiefly unlettered immigrants shortened that to guahl-YO, which they pronounced whal-YO. That was inevitably further shortened to yo. The common greeting among young Italian-American males was "Hey, whal-YO!", and then simply, "Yo!" And so it remains today. 65.107.122.222 ( talk) 18:45, 2 May 2017 (UTC)
I added the following: yo is used "to get someone's attention (it is used this way in the Wikipedia Template:yo)".
This was reverted https://en.wikipedia.org/?title=Yo&oldid=prev&diff=828091349 deisenbe ( talk) 14:49, 28 February 2018 (UTC)
The result of the move request was: moved. ( closed by non-admin page mover) NmWTfs85lXusaybq ( talk) 07:51, 8 December 2023 (UTC)
– No primary topic for this simple two-letter combination. Hard to measure, but no evidence that this has more long-term significance than the Spanish pronoun. Pageviews only barely clear the field. Hameltion ( talk | contribs) 19:52, 1 December 2023 (UTC)