Etymology
1. 1530, likely from an unrecorded M.L.G.
*moneke or M.Du.
*monnekijn, a colloquial word for "monkey," originally a dim. of some Romanic word, cf. Fr.
monne (16c.), O.It.
monna, Sp.
mona. In a 1498 Low Ger. version of the popular medieval beast story
"Roman de Renart" ("Reynard the Fox"),
Moneke is the name given to the son of Martin the Ape. The O.Fr. form of the name is
Monequin (recorded as
Monnekin in a 14c. version from Hainault), which could be a dim. of some personal name, or it could be from the general Romanic word, which may be ult. from Arabic
maimun "monkey," lit. "auspicious," a euphemistic usage because the sight of apes was held by the Arabs to be unlucky. The word would have been influenced in It. by folk-etymology from
monna "woman," a contraction of
ma donna "my lady."
Monkey has been used affectionately for "child" since 1605. As a type of modern popular dance, it is attested from 1964.
Monkeyshines is first recorded 1832, Amer.Eng.;
monkey business attested from 1883.
Monkey suit "fancy uniform" is from 1886.
Monkey wrench is attested from 1858; its fig. sense of "Something that obstructs operations" is from the notion of one getting jammed in the gears of machinery (cf.
spanner in the works). To
make a monkey of someone is attested from 1900. To
have a monkey on one's back "be addicted" is 1930s narcotics slang, though the same phrase in the 1860s meant "to be angry." There is a story in the Sinbad cycle about a tormenting ape-like creature that mounts a man's shoulders and won't get off, which may be the root of the term. In 1890s British slang, to
have a monkey up the chimney meant "to have a mortgage on one's house." The
three wise monkeys ("see no evil," etc.) are attested from 1926.
2. Uncertain:
3. * May be derived from monk + -ey (diminutive suffix),
4. * or borrowed from Middle Low German Moneke, the name of the son of Martin the Ape in Reynard the Fox (which may represent an unattested colloquial Middle Low German *moneke, *moneken), itself of uncertain origin:
5. ** Possibly derived from a Romance term represented by Late Middle French monne (whence Modern French mone (“monkey”)) or earlier Old French monnekin (“monkey”), originally Monnekin, the name of a monkey in Li Dis d'Entendement. Compare also Old French and Middle French monin (“monkey”).
6. *** The French terms may have been borrowed from Italian monna (“monkey”), from Old Spanish mona (“female monkey”), itself a shortening of mamona, variant of maimón, from Arabic مَيْمُون (maymūn, “baboon”)).
7. *** However, Old French monnekin may alternatively be unrelated to the other terms, instead being a borrowing of Early Middle Dutch mannekin (a diminutive of man, literally “little human”), and if so monkey is a doublet of mannequin; see modern Dutch manneken.
Verbs referencing "monkey"
Dutch
na-apen.