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Goombah[1] is a slang term for people ofItalian descent, only in the United States.
Goombah and similar forms derived as an alteration orAnglicized spelling of the commonSouthern Italian familiar term of address,cumpà, theapocopedoxytone form of the wordcumpari found inSouthern Italian dialects andcompare found inStandard Italian, which denotes a companion or friend.
It is therefore commonly used as a term of endearment roughly equivalent to "friend," "brother," or "comrade" among close friends or associates (generally males) in certain parts ofSouthern Italy, includingCampania andSicily, where it becomescumpà orcumpari in the regional Southern languages. It has, however, also gained a less innocuous meaning even in Italy in certain criminal contexts, signifying an "accomplice," "cohort," "fellow criminal," or "partner-in-crime," though it is still mostly used among non-criminal Southern Italian males as a harmless address of affection.
Compare and the Southern Italiancumpà andcumpari ultimately derive from the medieval Latincompater, meaning "cousin" and, later, "godfather."[2]
With the arrival of Southern Italian immigrants in America, the greeting used among Southern Italian males,cumpà, became Anglicized as "goombah" or "gumba", and spread among non-Italian-Americans as a derogation, often implying its subject was involved in some degree with criminality or had connections to theMafia.
Today, especially in Italian-American slang, "goombah" is a term for a companion or associate, especially a friend who acts as a patron, accomplice, protector, or advisor. When used by non-Italians to refer to Italians or Italian-Americans, "goombah" is often derogatory, implying a stereotypical Italian-American male, thug, or mafioso.[3]
In the 1950s, boxer/actorRocky Graziano andMartha Raye used the term in the original sense for NBC'sThe Martha Raye Show.
In theChrysler Presents ABob Hope Comedy Special NBC TV program (original air date September 27, 1963), singerBarbra Streisand introduced Italian-American singerDean Martin as follows: "And now here's America's number one goombah, singing his new Reprise hit 'Via Veneto', il signore Deano Martin."
Derogatory use of the term is portrayed the 1969 publication ofMario Puzo'sThe Godfather and the highly popular movie made from it, which contained dialogue such as "I don't care how many guinea Mafia goombahs come out of the woodwork" or, in the film, "I don't care how manydagoguineawopgreaseball goombahs come outta the woodwork".[3]
In 2016, U.S. SenatorMark Kirk used the term in reference to what he regarded as unqualified political hires at a veterans' nursing home: "Blagojevich's people ordered [Tammy Duckworth] to take on some political operatives and I would call them goombahs in the Anna Nursing home facility that she was in charge of", drawing bemused commentary for his "Sopranos throwback moment".[4][5]