The term hobnob originated in the 1760s as a verb meaning “to alternate toasting each other” while drinking. Over time, it evolved into the modern definition of “to socialize” that we commonly use today. The word is a combination of the expression hob and nob (sometimes hob or nob), which can be interpreted as “give and take”, reflecting how individuals take turns buying rounds of drinks. This phrase can be traced back to the dialectal term hab nab, meaning “to have and have not”. The term hab originates from Old English habban, meaning “possess” (the root of have); this word, through Proto-Germanic habjana, can be traced back to Proto-Indo-European kehp, meaning “to seize”. On the other hand, nab comes from nabban, which is essentially habban negated with the prefix ne-, meaning “not”.
