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Origin and history of Geronimo

Geronimo(interj.)

cry made in jumping, 1941 among U.S. airborne soldiers. Adopted as battle cry by paratroopers in World War II, who had seen the 1939 Paramount Studios movie "Geronimo!"

... Fort Benning, Georgia. Shortly before 47 members of the 501st Parachute Battalion were selected to begin training in mass jumping, a movie called Geronimo was exhibited at the Fost Exchange. For some reason the jumpers made "Geronimo" their rallying cry. Now, each man shouts the word lustily as he dives out into space. The original 47 parachutists have been augmented by several hundred and training has advanced to the point where an entire compnay [sic] will jump at one time. [from a report dated April 23, 1941, by the Division of Press Intelligence, Office of Government Reports]

The name is the Italian and Spanish form of Jerome, from Greek Hieronomos, literally "sacred name;" from hieros "sacred, holy, hallowed; superhuman, mighty; divine" (see ire) + -onym "name" (from PIE root *no-men- "name"). One contemporary source also lists Osceola as a jumping cry.

also from 1941

Entries linking to Geronimo

ire(n.)

c. 1300, from Old French ire "anger, wrath, violence" (11c.), from Latin ira "anger, wrath, rage, passion," from PIE root *eis- (1), forming various words denoting passion (source also of Greek hieros "filled with the divine, holy," oistros "gadfly," originally "thing causing madness;" Sanskrit esati "drives on," yasati "boils;" Avestan aesma "anger;" Lithuanian aistra "violent passion").

Old English irre in a similar sense is unrelated; it is from an adjective irre "wandering, straying, angry," which is cognate with Old Saxon irri "angry," Old High German irri "wandering, deranged," also "angry;" Gothic airzeis "astray," and Latin errare "wander, go astray, angry" (see err (v.)).

*no-men-

Proto-Indo-European root meaning "name."

It might form all or part of: acronym; allonym; ananym; anonymous; antonomasia; antonym; binomial; caconym; cognomen; denominate; eponym; eponymous; heteronym; homonym; homonymous; hyponymy; ignominious; ignominy; innominable; Jerome; matronymic; metonymy; metronymic; misnomer; moniker; name; nomenclature; nominal; nominate; noun; onomastic; onomatopoeia; paronomasia; paronym; patronym; patronymic; praenomen; pronoun; pseudonym; renown; synonym; synonymy; synonymous; toponym.

It might also be the source of: Sanskrit nama; Avestan nama; Greek onoma, onyma; Latin nomen; Old Church Slavonic ime, genitive imene; Russian imya; Old Irish ainm; Old Welsh anu "name;" Old English nama, noma, Old High German namo, Old Norse nafn, Gothic namo "name."

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