Hick Etymology

E.G. Withycombe, in her always informative Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names, has this to say about the name Richard (my emphasis): "Richard and Ricard were equally common in the Middle Ages, together with many nicknames and diminutive, such as Rich(ie), Hitch, Rick, Hick, Dick, Dickon, Ricket, Hicket, which in turn gave rise to an immense number of surnames."

The OED, which defines a hick as "an ignorant countryman; a silly fellow, booby. Now chiefly U.S." confirms the etymology: "A familiar by-form of the personal name Richard: cf. Dick, and Hob = Robert, Hodge = Roger."

I hope you will all find time to address someone you know named Richard as "my dear Hick."


Bonus etymology!

Before there were 'hiccups,' says the OED, there were just 'hicks,' a shortened form of 'hicket,' from whose entry we happily learn that onomatopoeia does not preclude etymology:

"One of the earlier forms of hiccup, the other being hickock, both app. with a dim. formative -et, -ock. The echoic stem hick appears also in MDu. hick, Du. hik, LG. hick, Da. hik, Sw. hicka hiccup, MDu. hicken, Du. hikken, Da. hicke, Sw. hicka to hiccup; also Bret. hok, hik (Littré), F. hoquet (15th c.), Walloon hikéte, med.L. hoquetus (Du Cange), hiccup, F. hoqueter (12th c. in Hatz.-Darm.) to hiccup. The Eng. hicket corresponds in formation to the Fr., and is identical with the Walloon. Assuming this to be the earliest form, we have the series hicket, hickot, hickock, hickop, hiccup (hiccough)."

Furthermore, the OED cites Thomas Hobbes' translation of Thucydides for the word hick-yex, used to describe the symptoms of the plague at Athens in Book II: "Most of them had all the hickeyexe which brought with it a strong convulsion." (a modern translation has here "an ineffectual retching which produced violent spasms;" the word must mean more than the OED's mere 'hiccup' if Hobbes was translating correctly). 'Hick-yex' is a combination of 'hick' and the word 'yex' which can mean 'sob' or 'hiccup.' I would surmise that this is the same word which is used under the spelling 'yucks' (cited as an alternate spelling for 'yex') or 'yuks' as a word for laughter, although the OED does not confirm this, saying instead that 'yuck' or 'yuk' is of unknown origin. There are certainly some laughs that sound like hiccups, though, and I don't see why the line isn't plausible, especially with such a slangy word.


Bonus Latin Etymology!

The Latin word for hiccup is 'singultus' which is related to our word 'single.' Thus a hiccup is a single sound, a sound all on its own. Certainly a more interesting way of looking at it than our say-what-it-sounds-like.


UPDATE 12/4:
The word Thucydides uses in the passage above is λυγξ (lunx), which means, you guessed it, 'hiccup;' it is modified by the adjective κενη, which means 'vain' or, as the other translation has it, 'ineffectual.' The lexicon I consulted made no mention of retching, although I see how you could get there from 'ineffectual hiccup.' Like our word, λυγξ is onomatopoetic.