It first showed up in The Pickwick Papers, published in 1836. Charles Dickens was the author, but it was his first novel, and originally he used the pseudonym “Boz.” He also used that name on his very first publication, Sketches by Boz. Incidentally, the original title of The Pickwick Papers was the The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, Containing a Faithful Record of the Perambulations, Perils, Travels, Adventures and Sporting Transactions of the Corresponding Members. When they published an updated edition with the more concise title, it was listed as being “by Charles Dickens”, but “edited by Boz.” Oh, and, you’re undoubtedly still wondering what “it” is. “It” first appeared in this bit: “And my ’pinion is, Sammy, that if your governor don’t prove a alleybi, he’ll be what the Italians call reg’larly flummoxed, and that’s all about it.”
I’m talking about the word “flummoxed.” In spite of that citation, it has nothing to do with Italian or Italians. It still means the same thing though; to be bewildered or confused. Something got a bit flummoxed, though, when the word travelled across the Atlantic. For a while in the US, it meant to give up or fail: “Well, if he should flummux at such a chance, I know of a chap..who’ll agree to take his place” (1839).
The Americans eventually caught on, and after about 1850 “flummox” wasn’t used that way any more. But then a couple of decades later, things got flummoxed again: “Brushes..with which heiresses..flumixed their hair” (1870).
All along, of course, “flummox” was also in use with its original meaning. But did Dickens make the word up out of nowhere? Probably not — the word almost certainly comes from English dialects in the northern and western area of the country. In Yorkshire, for example, (a northern county), “flummock” meant to be messy or untidy, and a “lummox” (or “lummock”) was sort of an oaf who would bumble around and knock things over (thus making a mess).
If that’s not where “flummox” came from, then we’re completely flummoxed, because there aren’t any other theories around. Nor are there any other words that sound much like “flummox”, which is kind of a shame. After all, it’s a fun word to say, and you can easily come up with a whole raft of useful epithets like “brummox,” “dummox,” and the like. I’m not suggesting anything about what those might be used for though, so don’t feel flummoxed.
