To the Editors of
The Oxford English
Dictionary.
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October 28, 2006
Dear OED Editors,
While consulting with the novelist Jonathan Ames about a new edition of J.S. Clouston's 1899 comic novel The Lunatic at Large that I am editing for McSweeney's Books, and which he has written the introduction for, he asked whether the word "bonkers" derived from the novel. Namely, the protagonist of The Lunatic at Large is an affable escaped lunatic who travels under the alias Francis Bunker, which his German traveling companion Baron Rudolf von Blitzenberg invariably mangles as "Bonker."
For instance:
"I am not ill!" he cried. "It vos zat rascal Bonker's plot. He made me! I haf not hydrophobia!"
(The Lunatic at Large, p. 159 in the Brentano's 1905 U.S. ed.)
Jonathan's suggestion intrigued me, and I have come to the conclusion that this is indeed the origin of the word. The OED currently dates the word's origin to 1948, as slang originating from the navy, with a tentative suggestion that it is a related to a head "bonk." Might I suggest The Lunatic at Large as the more likely source?
Here's why:
(1) The word is closer in form (Bonker or Bonker's v. bonk)
(2) The meaning follows more closely—"Bonk" only implies a possible causation to becoming deranged, while "Bonker" is the embodiment of lunacy, as the titular Lunatic. In fact, he might be fairly described as the most Bonkers character in the history of English literature.
(3) The Lunatic at Large was a very popular work in the first half of the century, and was made into movies in 1910, 1917, and 1927 (http://imdb.com), and finally
(4) You currently note the word's earliest occurrence in 1948, when Eric Partridge listed "bonkers" as World War II–era naval slang in his book A Dictionary of Forces' Slang 1939–45. As it happens, one of the last editions of The Lunatic at Large for many years was an Armed Services Edition issued in World War II. (See the Library of Congress's ASE page under "Appendix: A List of the Armed Services Editions," at www.loc.gov—Lunatic is title #1086.)
I look forward to hearing your thoughts on this, and am happy to assist with any further bonkers research.
Best regards,
Paul Collins
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October 31, 2006
Thank you for your message. I shall certainly add your suggestion to the OED's revision file, for consideration by the editors in due course.
I should point out, however, that in Partridge's Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English (8th ed., Paul Beale, 1984) there is mention of an earlier sense of the word, 'slightly drunk, light-headed', which is recorded in naval use from about 1920, developing by 1925 the meaning 'eccentric, crazy', which had passed into general use by 1946.
It was kind of you to write about this word.
Margot Charlton, OED
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November 2, 2006
Dear Ms. Charlton,
Many thanks for the reply, and I'm glad to hear that this has also turned up an update from Partridge that takes the word back a further two decades. Even without the Armed Services edition connection, I do hold hope for Clouston as a source, particularly as the 1920 origin puts it soon after the two Lunatic at Large silent films. I am delighted that the editors will in due course be considering which etymology is, in fact, truly bonkers.
Best regards,
Paul Collins
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On January 3, 2007, The Oxford English Dictionary's editors included "bonkers" with 39 other words in an international public appeal, broadcast on the BBC and on NPR, to conclusively establish the words' origins.
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