Whoa. So, I was bored and looked into the etymology of this, and it’s way harder to answer than I’d have thought.
The etymology of the word “stooge” is unknown, but it was first used in 1913 as a noun. The earliest known use of the verb “stooge” was in 1939, in the writing of detective novelist Raymond Chandler.
In its first known use in 1913, the word was defined as “stage assistant, actor who assists a comedian.” So, while it looks like it predates the Stooges by a decade, they really redefined the word as we know it now.
Whoa. So, I was bored and looked into the etymology of this, and it’s way harder to answer than I’d have thought.
The etymology of the word “stooge” is unknown, but it was first used in 1913 as a noun. The earliest known use of the verb “stooge” was in 1939, in the writing of detective novelist Raymond Chandler.
In its first known use in 1913, the word was defined as “stage assistant, actor who assists a comedian.” So, while it looks like it predates the Stooges by a decade, they really redefined the word as we know it now.