Yahoo did not begin with the internet company. It first appeared in Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels, published in 1726.
In the book, the Yahoos are wild, rude, humanlike creatures. Swift uses them as part of his satire, contrasting them with the rational horses called the Houyhnhnms. The name was invented for the story, so it is considered a literary coinage.
Over time, yahoo also became a common noun in English. It can mean a coarse, noisy, or uncultured person.
- Swift’s original use: the Yahoos in Gulliver’s Travels
- Later general use: He acted like a yahoo at the game.
The company Yahoo!, founded in the 1990s, adopted the older word as its name. So when people say “Yahoo” today, they may mean the brand, but the term itself comes from eighteenth century literature.