Variant of the interjectionhoy with h-dropping inworking class andCockney speech; first recorded in the 1930s. Compare also unrelated Portugueseoi and Japaneseおい(oi).
1997, David Schwarz,Listening subjects: music, psychoanalysis, culture:
A way forOi musicians to avoid responsibility for acts of violence that were preceded by listening to Oi is the claim that what people do with their music is out of the control of the musicians themselves.
2012, Tiffini Travis, Perry Hardy,Skinheads: A Guide to an American Subculture:
Oi! is characterized by cleaner guitars and slower tempos than most punk music, and manyOi! songs feature sing-along, "soccer chant" choruses.
Borrowed fromoyez, 2nd person plural imperative of the verboir(“to listen”), as used as an interjection in duplicated form“Oyez, oyez” by public speakers of medieval times to draw attention before a public address; seeoi oi.
“oi”, inKielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish][1] (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki:Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland),2004–, retrieved2023-07-03
1910, Reuben Eliyahu Israel,Traducsion libera de las poezias ebraicas de Roş Aşana i Kipur[2], Craiova: Institutul Grafic, I. Samitca şi D. Baraş, Socieatate in Comandita,→OCLC,page13:
Los ijos de tus fideles siervos vinieronoi a tu templo Azen orasion por sus vidas i ti aderesan sus apelo Azen memoria de sus padres delantre de ti, dio eternelo Acodrate de eios siempre i apeiadate de tu puevlo
Today the children of your faithful servants come to your temple. They pray for their lives and they speak to your name. They remember their parents before you, Lord God. Always remind yourself of them and take pity on your folk.
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