New Earliest Known Occurrence of the Term "Hot Dog"

[Shapiro, Fred]

Barry Popik, as part of his magnificent researches into the history of food terms, has traced the term "hot dog" as far back as September 1893 (Knoxville [Tennessee] Journal) and May 1893 (New York World, reporting from Asbury Park, New Jersey).  I then found a May 1893 citation from the New Brunswick (New Jersey) Daily Times, followed by a December 1892 citation from the Paterson, New Jersey Daily Press.  Now I have found "hot dog" in 1891, restoring priority to Tennessee:

BOTH ARRESTED.

Two Men Who Mistreated the "Hot Dog" Vendor.

  Pat King and W. T. Brooks were arrested last night by Officers Russell and Howington for disorderly and offensive conduct.  They were, it is claimed, worrying and cursing one of the little negro "weiner-wurst" boys and became so boisterous that their arrest became necessary.

[Nashville (Tennessee) Daily American, Feb. 9, 1891, page 5 (ProQuest Historical Newspapers)]

Fred Shapiro
Editor
YALE BOOK OF QUOTATIONS (Yale University Press)

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org