goombah

The story

1. Latin · derived fromcompater
2. Sicilian · derived fromcumpari“buddy, pal”
3. Neapolitan · borrowed fromcumpà
4. English todaygoombah

From Neapolitan cumpà and Sicilian cumpari (“buddy, pal”, akin to Italian compare, Spanish compadre, literally “godfather”), from Latin compater, a word often used to refer to “family friends” or friends close enough to be considered an “aunt” or “uncle”, though not related by blood. To an English-speaking ear, the unaspirated stops of Southern Italian dialects (especially Neapolitan) are interpreted as voiced stops, yielding goombah. Compare South American Spanish cumpa. Doublet of compadre, compeer, and compere.

Words from the same roots