"Jazz" etymology is correct in Lewis Porter's 1997 book

[Gerald Cohen]

   Today I obtained a copy of a book that actually gets the "jazz"
etymology right: _Jazz: A Century of Change_, by Lewis Porter. NY:
Schirmer, 1997. His first chapter, entitled "Where Did the Word
'Jazz' Come From?" (pp. 1-12) justifiably follows Dick Holbrook's
1974 article very closely, including the
credit Holbrook gives to the late (1985) word-researcher Peter Tamony.

   As an example of the accuracy--on page 8 Porter says: "Although New
Orleans musicians traveled quite a bit...the fact that the word
'jazz' first came to light in San Francisco, as far as we know, makes
one question whether it is a New Orleans word, or even a black
American or African-derived word.  Lawrence Gushee, music professor
at the University of Illinois and probably the leading researcher on
early jazz, notes that most New Orleans musicians say they first
heard the word 'jazz' in the North after the first original Dixieland
Jazz Band recordings in 1917."

   Btw, I see from Porter's book that William Safire once treated
"jazz" ("On Language" column, April 1981).  Safire checked out the
1831 attestation ("...old Talley[rand] jazzing and telling stories")
by contacting Robert Burchfield, chief editor of the Oxford
Dictionaries. Burchfield  correctly replied that this 1831 "jazzing"
must be an isolated Anglicized spelling of French "jaser" = to
chatter, gossip.


Gerald Cohen