by Mignon Fogarty

I was writing the word "brouhaha" the other day, and it seemed odd and fascinating, so I looked up its origin.

"Brouhaha" refers to a commotion or an uproar, and some sources call "brouhaha" an imitative word, meaning it represents the sounds you would hear during a commotion or an uproar.

Other sources say that in the Middle Ages "brou, ha, ha" was a cry used by French-speaking actors playing the devil. Some say the cry was specific to players representing the devil disguised as clergy, and that "brou, ha, ha" comes from the Hebrew phrase "barukh habba," which was an announcement made in synagogues that means "blessed be the one who comes [in the name of the Lord]."

Either way, English speakers adopted "brouhaha" from the French in the late 1800s.