"Jinx" etymology summary

[Douglas G. Wilson]

[A correspondent requested that I summarize my proposed etymology. OK, here
goes.]

ETYMOLOGY OF "JINX"

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1887-1894: THE FRANK DANIELS MUSICAL COMEDY "LITTLE PUCK" INCLUDES THE
CHARACTER JINKS HOODOO ("A CURSE TO EVERYBODY, INCLUDING HIMSELF")

[During this period the fashionable word for "carrier of bad luck" in
baseball columns etc. was "hoodoo"; this alternated with "Jonah",
"nemesis", etc., occasionally, but I don't find stand-alone "jinx"/"jinks".]

==========

_New York Daily Tribune_, 18 Jan. 1888: p. 4, col. 6:

[from the cast list of "Little Puck"]

<<Jinks Hoodoo, esq., a curse to everybody>>

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_Brooklyn Daily Eagle_, 21 Feb. 1888: p. 3, col. 1:

[description of "Little Puck"]

<<Harry Mack was Jinks Hoodoo, of the Dime Museum; Robert Fraser was
ponderous and stupid as Sluggers, the butler; ....>>

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_Brooklyn Daily Eagle_, 12 Mar. 1889: p. 4, col. 5:

<<A. C. Gunther's [sic] "fantastical" comedy, "Little Puck," which was seen
here last season, was acted again last night .... The plot remains the
same, the story being that of a father and son who are changed in aspect
from man to boy and boy to man by the magic powers invested in a Buddhist
idol, the property of a dime museum man, held as security by Packingham
Giltedge, the father. .... An amusing effect is the sound of an unseen hand
organ which follows Packingham relentlessly in fulfillment of the ban of
the dime museum man like the curse motive in the Niebelungen Trilogy, and
the old man resorts to violent measures to rid himself of its terrors.
Frank Daniels as Packingham Giltedge, was quaint and droll as ever ....
Harry Courtaine, as Dr. Savage, ... and Harry Conor, as Jinks Hoodo, [sic]
proprietor of the Hoodo [sic] Dime Museum, were entirely satisfactory. ....>>

[P. Giltedge is a capitalist. Dr. Hercules Savage is his son's intimidating
schoolmaster.]

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_Decatur Daily Republican_ [Decatur IL], 21 Oct. 1893: p. 3, col. 5:

<<Frank Daniels says he is taking "Little Puck" around this year because
there are a few people who haven't seen it yet. .... To John Canfield, as
Jinks Hoodoo, belongs the credit of making as much fun as is allowed a
lesser light.>>

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_Bucks County Gazette_ [Bristol PA], 20 Sep. 1894: p. 1, col. 6:

<<Willard Spencer's great comic opera company ... embraces among its
members ... the famous comedian Mr. Frank Daniels, whose characterizations
of "Old Sport" in A Rag Baby, and "Little Puck" are known in every
household in the land.>>

[Just to verify that "Little Puck" was well known. It was presented as late
as 1894 to my knowledge.]

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1895-1906: THE NAME "JINKS HOODOO" IS APPLIED TO CARRIERS OF BAD LUCK

[Cf. the names Jonah (earlier) and Joe Btfsplk (Al Capp) (later).]

[Still no stand-alone "jinx"/"jinks" in this sense. "Hoodoo" remains
current in the baseball news etc.]

==========

_Hawaiian Gazette_ [Honolulu], 19 March 1895: p. 2, col. 4:

[Smoke appears on shipboard during a card game. There is a nervous Mr.
Ficke on board expressing grave forebodings about the fate of the ship etc.
The smoke is found to be innocent.]

<<When they heard of the ship's escape the winners were glad and the losers
declared that Mr. Ficke was a genuine "Jinks Hoodoo.">>

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_Nevada State Journal_ [Reno NV], 4 Apr. 1906: p. 8, col. 3:

<<Harrison is evidently a child of misfortune. He seems to be the only
original "Jinks Hoodoo." Wherever there is a brick house to fall, Harrison
is there to furnish a cushion, but not to tumble. Wherever there is a
cloudburst, Harrison does the wet-dog act.>>

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1907-PRESENT: "JINKS"/"JINX" ALONE REFERS TO A CARRIER OF BAD LUCK (OR TO
THE CURSE ITSELF), SYNONYMOUS WITH "HOODOO"

[I find "jinx"/"jinks" in the appropriate sense in baseball and
prize-fighting contexts from 1909, and a single example which appears
possibly aberrant/nonce/erroneous in 1907.]

==========

1908: _A. Mutt_ (comic strip by Bud Fisher, anthologized 1977): pp. 25, 28
(also quoted in HDAS):

[A. Mutt decides to give up racetrack betting.]

<<They scratched Nappa after all the trouble I had doping him. 'Sno use.
There's a jinx on me. Here's where I quit.>>

[Of course he continues to gamble. He decides that the odds-makers are
discriminating against him, so he gets his mustache shaved off to disguise
himself.]

<<That hedge always was a jinx to me>>

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_Fort Wayne Sentinel_ [Fort Wayne IN], 13 June 1910: p. 10, col. 1:

<<There may or may not be a jinks or a hoodoo or any of the dozen other
things under which ill luck is known, ....>>

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_Fort Wayne Sentinel_ [Fort Wayne IN], 17 June 1910: p. 14(?), col. 3:

<<Of course every one has heard what a baseball jinx is. It is more
popularly known to the layman as a hoodoo, but the ball players themselves
call it a jinx. Bob Enos avers that Owner Annis appears to be the jinx of
the local club and that the players are getting so that they hate to have
him meet them on the road.>>

==========

This may be compared with the 'conventional' derivation from "jynx" [bird
or charm], promulgated by OED, MW3, etc. In HDAS (v. 2, p. 283):
"reintroduced as sports slang _ca_1905 from its occurrence in T. Urquhart's
translation (1673) of Rabelais -- the sole E[nglish] quot. given by the
_OED_" Reading between the lines, I believe I detect a trace of
[Lighter's?] skepticism here.

-- Doug Wilson