Jesse et al: Further antedating eggnog to 1735 !?

[Benjamin Zimmer]

On Dec 26, 2007 9:04 PM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
>
> I see on Language Log there is a link to
> http://virtual-grub-street.blogspot.com/2007/12/more-on-etymology-of-eggnog.html
> with an alleged 1735 "egg nog" from Georgia!  [Google Books, snippet
> view.]  But this may be just another Google Books misdirection, since
> the "Session Laws" is a multi-volume work, first issued in 1735.  In
> fact, I believe there was not even a legislature in Georgia in 1735
> -- it was governed by the Trustees, from England, with Oglethorpe as
> military commander but not governor.  So what year is page 262
> for?  Another suspicious datum is that the same sentence includes
> "ice cream", which OED2 dates from 1744, although a 10-year
> antedating has perhaps a non-zero probability.
>
> Jesse, I can go to the Harvard Law School library for this (it's on
> microfiche).  Should I bother?

Since the title page pretty clearly says 1958, I'd put this in the
"don't bother" category.

http://books.google.com/books?id=VRE4AAAAIAAJ&q=egg-nog

--Ben Zimmer

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