[Ads-l] Third (?) oldest known Hoosher/Hoosier/Hooshier; was: Re: "Hooshier March" 1831

Stephen Goranson goranson at DUKE.EDU
Sat Mar 24 11:06:02 UTC 2018


What may be the third oldest reliable mention of Hoosher or Hoosier or Hooshier is a letter dated April 6, 1831 and signed "AN OLD HOOSHER." Printed in the April 9, 1831 issue of Richmond Palladium, Richmond, Wayne County, Indiana. page 3, col. b-c, here c. Fully available here:


https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn82016416/1831-04-09/ed-1/seq-3/


Stephen Goranson

http://people.duke.edu/~goranson/

  o  r  i  g i  n     k  i  b  o  s  h

________________________________
From: American Dialect Society <...> on behalf of Stephen Goranson <...>
Sent: Sunday, June 14, 2015 10:51 AM
To: ...
Subject: [ADS-L] "Hooshier March" 1831

"[Hooshier March by A. M." appears slightly earlier and closer to the event and in a longer report in:
Frankfort Argus, page [1], col. 5, vol. 25, iss. 33
Publication Date:
September 28, 1831
Location:
Frankfort, Kentucky
Headline:
Republican Barbecue

Stephen Goranson
http://people.duke.edu/~goranson/

________________________________________
From: American Dialect Society ...on behalf of Stephen Goranson ...
Sent: Saturday, June 13, 2015 2:35 PM
...
Subject: [ADS-L] "Hooshier March" 1831

Without attempting a large survey, I suppose it is fair to say (correct me if not) about the etymology of Hoosier (and Hoosher and Hooshier and other spellings) that there is no consensus, and that the earliest known written use (taking the OED's 1826 claim as mistaken) is from a Feb. 11, 1831 letter from G. S. Murdock proposing to Gen. John Tipton at Logansport  to build a steamboat, "the Indiana Hoosier," and that the earliest known printed use is from Feb. 19, 1831 ("The 'Hoosher' country." See: New Findings on the Earliest Written Uses of "Hoosier," Jonathan Clark Smith, Indiana Magazine of History, Volume 104, Issue 3, 2008, pp 293-295, thus antedating two later 1831 newspaper uses noted by Dunn, Indiana [1919] 2.1154).

Here is another 1831 use that may be relevant (or not?) and, as far as I know, hasn't been mentioned lately. Baltimore Republican, page 2, col. 2, September 29, 1831 [America's Historical Newspapers]. It reports (after the Louisville Advertiser) on a Jackson party election victory celebration in Louisville, Kentucky held on the 17th. After speeches
"The following regular toasts were drunk, with appropriate music:
1. Our Country.--Her soil is consecrated to liberty by the blood of our forefathers [Hail Columbia....
10. Gen. John Adair.--In his return to the ensuing Congress, Kentucky exhibits her lively recollection of and gratitude for his eminent public services [Hooshier March by A. M....."
Gen John Adair's service included northwest territory fighting.

Stephen Goranson
<http://people.duke.edu/~goranson/>
<http://www.americandialect.org>

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



More information about the Ads-l mailing list