scandaroon

Etymology

Comes from variant forms of Ottoman Turkish إسكندرون (İskenderūn), shaped by the English ending -oon (compare Stambul and Stamboul for Istanbul). For the pigeon sense, it is thought to come from the pigeon's use to carry messages from the English factory at Iskanderun to Aleppo when new ships arrived. For the swindler sense, it is probably influenced by scandal and its relatives, plus -oon. It is a doublet of Alexandria, Alexandretta, Iskenderun and Kandahar.