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Jingo is a legendary empress of Japan, wife of Chuai, the 14th emperor of
Japan.
On her husbands death she assumed the government, and fitted out an army
for the invasion of Korea. She returned to Japan completely victorious after
three years absence. Subsequently her son Ojin, afterwards 15th emperor, was
born, and later was canonized as Hachiman, god of war. The empress Jingo
ruled over Japan till 270.
As regards the English oath, usually By Jingo, or By the living Jingo,
the derivation is doubtful. The identification with the name of Gingulph or
Gengulphus, a Burgundian saint who was martyred on the 11th of May 760, was
a joke on the part of R. H. Barham, author of the Ingoldsby Legends. Some
explain the word as a corruption of Jainko, the Basque name for God. It has
also been derived from the Persian jang (war), St Jingo being the equivalent
of the Latin god of war, Mars; and is even explained as a corruption of
Jesus, Son of God, Je-n-go.
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