sabotage English · revision 2

+ ==Etymology==

+ Recorded in English from 1907, and from 1903 as a French word used in English;^(Etymonline) Merriam-Webster dates it to 1910.^(MW Collegiate) It is [[bor|fr|sabotage]],^(AHD)^(OED 1989) [[der|fr|saboter|t=to walk noisily; to bungle]],^(AHD)^(Etymonline) [[der|fr|sabot|t=wooden shoe]].^(AHD)^(Etymonline) The OED glosses ''saboter'' as “to make a noise with sabots, to perform or execute badly”, including “to destroy wilfully (tools, machinery, etc.)”.^(OED 1989)

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+ The often-repeated story that the modern sense comes from strikers throwing shoes into machinery is not supported by the etymology; in French the word was used in a variety of “bungling” senses, such as playing a piece of music badly.^(Etymonline)

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+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}