The word chum presents a fascinating etymological puzzle. Its meaning as “friend” first appeared in the late seventeenth century among students at Oxford University, where it was used as a playful slang term for “roommate” (likewise, chummery referred to a shared living space and chummage to the division of such a space). Some theories suggest that this may have originated from an abbreviation of chamber-fellow or chamber-mate, reflecting the popular trend of shortening words at the time. However, it is also possible that the term has roots in a word like comrade. The alternative definition of chum as “chopped fish” appeared among New England sailors in the mid-nineteenth century and has a separate, unclear etymology.
