prissy, 1842 (?)

[Jonathan Lighter]

This may have nothing to do with George's question, but is worth reporting before I forget it.

A few years ago I was alerted to a book that dealt with antebellum sexual attitudes in the South.  It frequently cited unpublished court records.  In one case, in Virginia around 1810, a rape victim testified that her assailant had broken into her bed chamber and approached her "with his dick in his hand."

This would be an antedating by about 75 years of a now universally known term. It would also make it by origin an Americanism.

Skeptical, I wrote to the Court House for a photocopy of the document, which soon arrived.

As he was undoubtedly expected to do, the court stenographer had written his final draft in bold, graceful, and very legible script.  There was absolutely no doubt: what the assailant had held in his hand was his "dirk."

Chalk this false alarm up to someone's hasty transcription or proof-reading.  But I was  amused greatly when a colleague (not a linguist) suggested that the unmistakable "dirk" might well have been a slip of the pen for the putative "dick," since "'Dirk' is too Shakespearean" [!].

As for "prissy," I have no suggestions.

JL

George Thompson <george.thompson at NYU.EDU> wrote:
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Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: George Thompson
Subject: prissy, 1842 (?)
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The OED says that "prissy" dates from the mid 1890s, and is probably compounded from "prim" and "sissy".

Here is an occurence of the word from 1842. The meaning isn't at all clear, but it is obiously used in an affirmative sense, quite the opposite of the post 1890s meaning. The person described is Martin Van Buren, who was campaigning for the presidency.

"Time has been merciful to him. He looks more fresh and prissy than ever we saw him, excepting that his locks are a little more like those of his 'illustrious predecessor,' being whitened by the snows of a few more winters." From the New Orleans Daily Picayune, of April 12 or 15, 1842, perhaps citing the Natchez Free Press; as cited in Ralph M. Aderman & Wayne R. Kime, Advocate for America: The Life of James Kirke Paulding, Selingrove: Susquehanna U. Pr., 2003, p. 272 and footnote 18, p. 383.

Van Buren was 60 in 1842, and it would seem a bit extreme to describe a 60-year old as "pristine", -- myself being an exception, of course -- but could this be a shortening of that word?

GAT

George A. Thompson
Author of A Documentary History of "The African
Theatre", Northwestern Univ. Pr., 1998.


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