Antedating of "Brunch"

[Shapiro, Fred]

I see that Anatoly Liberman's Bibliography of English Etymology has a precise citation:

Beringer, guy. 1895. Brunch: A plea. HW 1/2: 20

So maybe Liberman got this from the OED's files.

Fred Shapiro



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From: American Dialect Society [ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] on behalf of Shapiro, Fred [fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU]
Sent: Sunday, March 10, 2013 1:46 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Antedating of "Brunch"

The OED's first citation for "brunch" is dated 1896, and refers to a coinage a year before in an article in Hunter's Weekly.  Many sources say that the 1895 Hunter's Weekly article was "Brunch: A Plea" by Guy Beringer, but no one seems to give a precise citation.  Beringer is said to have written:

"Instead of England’s early Sunday dinner, a post-church ordeal of heavy meats and savory pies, why not a new meal, served around noon, that starts with tea or coffee . . . By eliminating the need to get up early on Sunday, brunch would make life brighter for Saturday night carousers."

Another interesting point about the OED's treatment of the word is that it lists the 1896 citation under "brunch" as a noun, although the text in the citation appears to be using the word as a verb.

Fred Shapiro

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