April 20, 2018

"Orthodox and other dox."

The word "dox" came up in the comments, here, so I looked it up in the Oxford English Dictionary, which was useless in defining the present-day verb, but amusing on the subject of the old noun (click to enlarge):

20 comments:

Ann Althouse said...

If you're noticing "n.2" and wondering, what's "n.1," it's "Originally the term in Vagabonds' Cant for the unmarried mistress of a beggar or rogue: a beggar's trull or wench: hence, slang, a mistress, paramour, prostitute; dial., a wench, sweetheart."

Re "Vagabonds' Cant," read this.

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

So doxy can be used to differentiate between doctrine and opinion, perhaps.

Ann Althouse said...

"dox" means "opinion" in "orthodoxy" and "doc" means "learning" in "doctrine."

Molly said...

And the Souse family is the best family
That ever came over from Old Germany.
There's the Highland Dox, the Lowland Dox;
The Rotterdam Dox and the otter damn Dox.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_More_Drink_for_the_Four_of_Us

Darkisland said...

And how about the Doxology? The hymn that begins praise God from whom all blessings flow

John Henry

n.n said...

dusk (n.)
c. 1200, dosk "obscure, to become dark," perhaps from Old English dox "dark-haired, dark from the absence of light" (cognate with Swedish …

doxology (n.)
"hymn of praise," 1640s, from Medieval Latin doxologia, from Ecclesiastical Greek doxologia "praise, glory," from doxologos "praising, glorifying," from doxa "glory, praise" (from dokein "to seem good," from PIE root *dek- "to take, accept") + logos "a speaking" (see -logy).

doxy (n.)
"rogue's girlfriend," 1520s, slang, of unknown origin (see dell (n.2)). Liberman says it is probably from Low German dokke "doll," "with the deterioration of meaning from 'sweetheart' and 'wench' to 'whore.'"

-- etymonline.com

Dox has a semantically foreboding appeal: dark, obscure, glorifying, and hole... I mean, whore. What is the origin of "dox" in contemporary usage?

Nonapod said...

In it's current form:

"Doxing" is a neologism that has evolved over its brief history. It comes from a spelling alteration of the abbreviation "docs" (for "documents") and refers to "compiling and releasing a dossier of personal information on someone."[10] Essentially, doxing is revealing and publicizing records of an individual, which were previously private or difficult to obtain.

The term dox derives from the slang "dropping dox," which, according to Wired writer Mat Honan, was "an old-school revenge tactic that emerged from hacker culture in 1990s." Hackers operating outside the law in that era used the breach of an opponent's anonymity as a means to expose opponents to harassment or legal repercussions.[10]

Consequently, doxing often comes with a negative connotation, because it can be a vehicle for revenge via the violation of privacy.

madAsHell said...

The un-linkable OED has became screen-capture-able?

Ann Althouse said...

I can cut and paste or screen capture. I just can’t send you there.

tcrosse said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Ralph L said...

Presumably, your sweetheart will know you're not calling her a whore.

Michelle Dulak Thomson said...

Hmmm. There's the Lesser Doxology and the Greater Doxology. The Lesser is "As it was in the beginning," &c., applied to the end of every sung psalm. The Greater is the Gloria.

I have never run across "doxy" in your sense, Ann, but ran across it in the slut sense in (who else?) Robert Heinlein. The protagonist of Heinlein's Friday says that she has had "doxy training," but didn't need it anyway, because artificial persons (of which she is one) don't feel shame about casual sex, never having been trained to it.

In the modern document-dropping sense, I have always seen it spelled "doxxing." And it doesn't mean just dropping documents; it includes merely publishing someone's address. Which puts it right next door to SWATting. It's not far from "I know where you live" to "Say, let's kick this guy's door down and see if he's armed." Though the latter does pose a significant risk of getting killed.

tcrosse said...

My doxy is hetero.

rhhardin said...

orthodog

XXV Total Things Known about Geryon

He loved lightning He lived on an island His mother was a
nymph of a river that ran to the sea His father was a gold
cutting tool Old scholia say that Stesichoros says that
Geryon had six hands and six feet and wings He was red and
his strange red cattle excited envy Herakles came and
killed him for his cattle Killed the dog (named Orthos meaning Straight Up)

(Anne Carson)

n.n said...

Actually, I was considering the close association between "dark" and "whore". Hacker culture, perhaps. Its evolution likely has an urban source.

Owen said...

So "orthodoxy" is a hooker, straight up.

Ralph L said...

With a little pesticide, so you won't have an organism when it's over.

n.n said...

So "orthodoxy" is a hooker, straight up.

In it's evolved denotation, it refers to a "straight hooker." However, it's original meaning referred to a "straight dark," which implies clarifying misconceptions and preconceptions.

Ralph L said...

a "straight hooker."

That's a doxymoron, if you think about it.

I think Owen was thinking of orthogonal in the sense of right angles.




Katherine said...

Knowing the first meaning, I saw the quotations for the second meaning as double entendres.