Etymology site: Conniption, first (??) used in 1833, American English, origin uncertain.
What I figure happened:
Must be an American somewhere (on the Western or Southern
frontier) one day in describing someone else's action, said, "Well, he up
and threw a conniption fit, that's what he did." And everybody else
nodded, because they all knew what the speaker meant, having seen a conniption
or two in their travels. Years later, people who put together dictionaries and
etymological studies decided on "origin uncertain," because none of
them had ever seen a conniption, calm or fit-throwing.
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