zydeco/zottico (1955)

[Benjamin Zimmer]

For "zydeco" and its variants ("zodico", "zologo", etc.), OED has:

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1949 in Leadbitter & Slaven Blues Records 1943-66 (1968) 136 Zologo
(Organ Blues)--1. Gold Star 669.
1960 M. MCCORMICK notes to LP record Treasury of Field Recordings I 31
Two local groups..have achieved nation~wide record sales with their
interpretations of Zydeco music.
[etc.]
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Here's an early print reference, with the spelling "zottico":

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"On Saturday night, somebody holds a 'zottico' in his home. Out come the
accordion, banjo and rub bo'd. The latter is an oldtime washing board. The
musician plays it with a thimble on his finger. Off they whirl in a folk
dance similar to a square dance."
Marie Lee Phelps, "Visit to Frenchtown," _Houston Post_ May 22, 1955, 5:2.

Cited in:
John Minton, "Houston Creoles and Zydeco: The Emergence of an African
American Urban Popular Style," _American Music_ Vol. 14, No. 4 (Winter,
1996), p. 500.
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Minton also gives the date of McCormick's notes to _A Treasury of Field
Recordings_ as 1959, not 1960.


--Ben Zimmer