FW: Antedating of "Banana Republic" -- EOTY

[Frank Abate]

What follows, courtesy of Michael Q and Fred S, is truly amazing, in terms
of the ability to find such info so quickly, and to disseminate it to the
world.

Hats off to both MQ and FS!

I hereby cast my vote for this exchange as the Etymology of the Year.

Frank Abate

-----Original Message-----
From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU]On Behalf
Of Michael Quinion
Sent: Monday, November 18, 2002 4:57 AM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: Antedating of "Banana Republic"


> The OED's first use of "banana republic" is dated 1935.  ProQuest
> Historical Newspapers has this surprisingly early:
>
> 1912 _N.Y. Times Book Rev._ 7 Jan. 3  [O. Henry] had studied with his
> quick, searching eye the rise and fall of certain banana republics.

I think I can beat that. From "Cabbages and Kings" by O Henry (1904),
Chapter VIII: "In the consultation of this small, maritime banana
republic was a forgotten section that provided for the maintenance of
a navy"; and from Chapter XVII: "At that time we had a treaty with
about every foreign country except Belgium and that banana republic,
Anchuria".

As it also appears in "Tom Swift And His Big Tunnel" by Victor
Appleton (1916), Chapter III: "Is there anything wrong with South
America--Peru? I know they have lots of revolutions in those
countries, but I don't believe Peru is what they call a 'banana
republic'; is it?", it looks to have been relatively well known even
at this time.


--
Michael Quinion
Editor, World Wide Words
E-mail: <TheEditor at worldwidewords.org>
Web: <http://www.worldwidewords.org/>