[Ads-l] Antedating of Jamboree

[Peter Reitan]

Etymonline.com lists 1866, Merriam Webster online lists 1861, Oxforedictinoaries.com lists mid-19th Century.  All sources refer to it as an Americanism.  Etymonline suggests possible derivation from jam (crowd) influenced by shivaree, a variant of Charivari, a noisy post-wedding party frequently involving tin-horns and banging tin-plates, a precursor to the tin-cans on the back of the get-away car.


1850: Pittsburgh Daily Post, July 3, 1850, page 2.  Song title in a listing of songs in an advertisement for White's New Ethiopian Song Book, "Whoop! Jam-bo-ree!".


A copy of that songbook, apparently unchanged (with original pagination), is wholly found within a later published collection songbooks.  The collection is on HathiTrust, and entitled Christy's and White's Ethiopian Melodies, comprising the Melodeon Song Book, Plantation Melodies, Ethiopian Song Book, Serenader's Song Book and Christy and Wood's New Song Book, Philadelphia, T. B. Peterson & Brothers, 1854.


The song title in the book suggests a western origin, and possible African-American origin:


"Whoop, Jam-bo-ree. - Jig. As sung by the original Dan Emmett, (in imitation of the western boatmen,) at White's Melodoen."


The lyrics do not give much insight into its intended meaning.  The first verse and chorus are, "I went down to New Orleans, I tink myself a man, De first place I fotched up was on board de Talleyrann. Chorus: Whoop, jam-bo-ree! Whoop, jam-bo-ree! Vinegar shoes and paper stockings, Git up! ole hoss!"


The word was in use in Cleveland in 1854 to refer to a party hosted by a firehose company.  It appears in a collection of Cleveland newspaper abstracts compiled in the 1930s.


The Annals of Cleveland, Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland W.P.A. Project; distributed by the Cleveland Public Library, 1936, page 119:


"FCD [Forest City Democrat (original name of the Cleveland Leader)] Jan. 7, 1854: 3/1 – The boys of the Hope fire company No. 8 are going to have a big time at their jamboree on Jan. 12, and national hall will be crowded to overflowing.  They expect to realize enough from this festival to make a substantial payment toward the purchase of a new engine which will cost about $2,500."

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By 1861, the word could be used to refer to a fist-fight or scuffle.


Vanity Fair, December 28, 1861:


“'What ails my Love?’ asked Glorianna, regarding his face for the first time; 'whence come these bruised cheeks, those bloody nose, this puffy lip and ensanguined mug? Blow me if I don’t think you’ve been on a jamboree!'”
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