where does "dosh" come from

[kentishbear]

can anyone tell me where the word "dosh" meaning cash originated from?

[Quizmonster]

The origin of 'dosh' is unknown, but it was first recorded in the 1950s. It occurs to me that - because of the vague similarity of opening and closing letters - there just might be a connection with 'dough', also meaning 'money', which dates back to the 1850s in the USA.

[Quizmonster]

Chambers Dictionary suggests it might possibly be a combination of dollars and cash, but that seems dubious to me, especially as The Oxford English Dictionary says the origin is unknown.

[dannydingbat]

It comes from the term Ishky Dosh The old Portugese currency was the escudo. British sailors using this money contracted the word from escudos to ishky dosh, shortened to dosh..

[Quizmonster]

That's a fascinating story from Danny above, but I suspect it's a bit of folk etymology rather than real etymology. If it were true, I can't help thinking it would have appeared in writing somewhere long before 1953, which is the date of the earliest recorded use of the word.
The key argument against it - as I've already said above - is that the scholars at The Oxford English Dictionary appear not to have found any such connection. It's a lovely story, however! Like much folk etymology, it uses "British sailors" as its source.

[dannydingbat]

Quizmonster - As my dad was in the navy from 1938 to 1966 and I come from Plymouth which was teeming with sailors, the term "ishky dosh" was used by me and my mates at school because it was common parlance amongst naval folk. We never thought much about it then. Like the words "plonk" (from vin blanc) and "char" for tea, terms have been borrowed from other languages and changed by servicemen for centuries until they were part of our language. Just because it seems improbable and involves the services, it doesn't mean it isn't true.

[Quizmonster]

I didn't say it wasn't true, Danny, only that I considered it dubious or that it was suspect. TOED scholars are perfectly happy to record the etymologies of 'plonk' and 'char' and a host of other words originating as military slang...the former being of Australian origin (possibly Australian military, as it first appears in 1919 just post World War I) and the latter being Hindi for 'tea', presumably brought back here by soldiers of the Raj.
Why, then, would they have failed to find your claimed source for 'dosh'? Do you actually have any documentary evidence - a sailor's letter home to his wife explaining his lack of money, say, pre-dating 1953 - for the ishky-dosh source? If so, I'd be delighted to learn where I might be able to see it and so, I am sure, would the Chief Editor at TOED!
I'm quite serious. I don't know whether you saw any of the recent TV series 'Balderdash & Piffle' but that made it perfectly plain that members of the public are more than welcome to submit evidence that might encourage the alteration of the dictionary if it is sufficiently persuasive. I'm sorry, but I'm not at the moment persuaded, since - as things stand - neither are the two major British dictionaries. Over to you. Cheers

[dannydingbat]

Am I bothered? Just trying to help the enquirer. Glad you found it interesting.