What is the origin of the expression “hip hip hurrah”? According to one book I’ve read, it derives from an abbreviation of the Latin Hierusylema est perdita, “Jerusalem is destroyed.” Apparently, medieval anti-Semites yelled “Hep! Hep!” as they exiled or executed innocent Jews. Can this be true? Can modern expressions such as hip, hipster, hippie, and hip-hop have such an odious etymology? Say it ain’t so. –Name withheld, Washington, D.C.
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(1) From the marching cadence “hep, two, three, four.” If you were hep, you were in step with what was happening.
(2) From Joe Hep, who ran a low-life saloon in Chicago in the 1890s. (You may recall our recent discussion of another 1890s Chicago saloon keeper who allegedly lent his name to the language, Mickey Finn. 1890s Chicago saloon keepers were obviously quite a crew.) Hep liked to hover around the local hoods while they plotted their dirty deeds and fancied himself in the know. His name was originally used ironically to refer to someone who thought he knew what was going on but didn’t. The ironic sense was soon lost, and to get Joe to or to get hep to simply meant to get the straight dope, so to speak (source: D.W. Maurer, American Speech, 1941).
Does this mean we owe hip, hippie, hip hip hurrah, and the rest to the howling of a bunch of Jew baiters? Not necessarily. Literary citations of hip hip hurrah in clearly innocent contexts date from 1818, the year before the “Hep! Hep!” riots. (I’ve seen nothing to convince me “Hep! Hep!” was used in the Middle Ages.) The most plausible explanation is that hip hip hurrah and “Hep! Hep!” simply have a common source, the herder’s cry. Still, it’s something to think about next time you’re about to give someone a rousing cheer.
Art accompanying story in printed newspaper (not available in this archive): illustration/Slug Signorino.
