any relation to cacchinate? Pedant 02:19, 15 January 2007 (UTC)
excuse me... cachinnate ??? Pedant 02:20, 15 January 2007 (UTC)
It seems possible. But OED doesn't think so. OED goes back to the ME and Germanic roots. Fun fact: originally it meant a bird squawk such as a goose - hence via onomatopoeia (?) to a harsh laugh. But the same root gives us gaggle, as in an accumulation of geese. Cross Reference (talk) 11:10, 27 August 2020 (UTC)