Etymology of ‘chock-a-block’ [pt. 1]

The English colloquialism ‘chock-a-block’ (very crowded) is virtually identical in pronunciation as well as core meaning with the Turkish expression çok kalabalık (very crowded).

Concerning pronunciation, the Turkish letter ç represents the same sound as English ch, while ı is a neutral vowel a bit like u, such as a speaker of British English would say twice when pronouncing ‘cousin’ (linguists call the vowel schwa). So çok kalabalık could be set in English as something like ‘chok-kallaballuck’ if it was being carefully enunciated; but I once heard a fast-talking Turk pronounce it exactly as ‘chock-a-block’, which is what originally inspired this series of posts.

As well as core meaning, there is also similarity in colour or affect. When a visitor to Istanbul receives friendly warnings that the streets, ferries, metros and markets are çok kalabalık, this comes with the same air of ironic resignation as an English speaker conveys when describing a place as chock-a-block. Çok kalabalık is itself an idiom, seemingly an expression meaning ‘crammed full of fish’, as if referring to the hold of a fishing boat, and its idiomatic tone has transferred over to the English.

This ought to be enough to establish that ‘chock-a-block’ is a borrowing from Turkish. Nevertheless, the etymologists universally maintain that it is a nautical phrase meaning something to do with ropes and pulleys; and Artificial Intelligence has now added its authority to that established opinion, although it will, if asked, mention that there is a marginal and non-academic theory that it is Turkish, for which as a reference at the time of writing it cites only this website.

So, the following posts will look at why the orthodox etymology makes no sense; how the Turkish origins of ‘chock-a-block’ came to be forgotten; and how and when çok kalabalık might have transferred from Turkish to English [I will write this at some point].