Jingo, explained by some as a corruption of St Gingulph; by others, of 'Jainko,' the Basque name for the Supreme Being. Hence the familiar expressions 'by Jingo' and 'by the living Jingo.' By supporters of the Basque etymology the expression is alleged to have originated in Wales, whither Edward I. is said to have had a party of Basque soldiers conveyed during his Welsh wars; but 'Hey Jingo' is first met with in literature in Oldham's Satyrs upon the Jesuits (1679). Jingoism is now understood to be a sort of British Chauvinism, and in this aspect dates only from the Russo-Turkish war of 1878. At the time there was a strong anti-Russian feeling in London, and the most popular music-hall song of the day was a sort of doggerel threat against Russia, beginning:
We don't want to fight, but by jingo if we do,
We've got the ships, we've got the men, we've got the
money, too.