Note 498 — ACT II., SCENE I.

This word seems to have puzzled our dictionary-makers very needlessly. Mr Todd quotes Skinner, who derives it from top and turf: the etymology is very simple, and will be acknowledged the instant it is stated: topsy-turvy is only an abbreviation of topside t'other way, or the upper end of anything turned downwards—i.e., bottom upwards. Archdeacon Nares got as far as top side, but turvy, he acknowledged, set his ingenuity at defiance.