Comments on: Moolah.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 17:41:45 +0000

buckaroo is definitely from spanish vaquero. cowboys have loads of spanish words in their vocabulary.

By: Jeffrey

Jeffrey — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 06:04:58 +0000

One finds the same meaning but with a different orthography in Damon Runyon where potatoes are often referred to as moolouw. Yet, nothing on Google.

By: Yael

Yael — Sat, 13 Aug 2011 19:33:16 +0000

This feels like the sort of thing that would have been researched by now, so I feel a bit wary of pointing out what may very well be a dud, but in Arabic the word “mal” (pronounced with a long A) means “money, property”; and while “mal” itself seems a bit far from “moolah”, the root of that word is M-W-L, and that W does appear in related forms, such as the plural “amwal”, or the verb “mawwala” (to finance), or the participle “mumawwal” (rich). And going from “amwal” (or similar forms) to “moolah” does not feel all that far-fetched to me. Then again, many false etymologies don’t…

By: alexander macrae

alexander macrae — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 14:52:18 +0000

Romany for money is Wonga – a not dissimilar word. The origins of the Romany language have been traced to South India.

The Spanish also sounds right – but why just ‘mula’ – why not ‘mulas’, and why does it not linger on in that usage somewhere, or appear in stories from the past?

By: Andre Harris

Andre Harris — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 04:37:58 +0000

the very spelling of Moolah tends to suggest that it came from somewhere like India, so I think that considering what Gruff and PG 13 said it probably comes from One of the languages of Old India and was brought back by people of the British Raj. It suggests like it is related to some indo-european term.

By: John

John — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 20:10:14 +0000

Some slang words don’t even have an origin.

By: Villainesse

Villainesse — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 06:32:57 +0000

Since Roman(/Spanish), Hindi, and Sanskrit(Buddhist?) are deeply related languages, it is possible the above options have the same ancient root.

But, it is extremely easy to imagine gamblers using the “bajate de la mula” demand and just shortening it right into our modern slang.

By: PG13

PG13 — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 20:27:47 +0000

‘Mol’ meaning value is used in Hindi and Urdu in India almost exclusively. It may have come from ‘Mula’ from Pali and Sanskrit as gruff (above) suggested.

Also in some South Indian languages ‘mulla’ means money or valuables, and is use such in many expressions.

I’ve always thought it came from Hindi or Urdu, but seems like the origin is much older to Pali and Sanskrit.

It may have made it to the European languages during the Colonial times.

By: Melanie

Melanie — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 11:53:17 +0000

I like Eugene’s response….
“Bájate de la mula”

By: kleto

kleto — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 02:41:15 +0000

Moolah or mula is not the Fijian word for money – the Fijian word money is ilavo.

By: Jon

Jon — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 14:33:39 +0000

Actually, I know this article is from a couple years ago, but you might be interested to know that there is a new take on the origins of “Moolah” according to some (one lone politician in Texas) Moolah originated as an insulting slang term against Italians and was then used against Blacks (I’m not sure if his theory is it was used against African-Americans, Africans, or which demographic). According to him though, it is now a thoroughly racist term:
http://dfw.cbslocal.com/2011/02/15/john-wiley-price-dallas-county-commissioners-go-to-hell/

I do have to admit, this is the same guy who found the term “Black Hole” to be racist, so his etymology skills might be a wee bit off.

By: Jon

Jon — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 14:13:26 +0000

Oops, too many websites about “Moolah” open at once, that comment was supposed to go to a different board, please delete/ignore.