Jasm/Jism/Gism

[Joel S. Berson]

At 10/16/2007 10:32 AM, John Baker wrote, asking for thoughts:
>         3.      How plausible is an Irish derivation anyway?  Doug
> Wilson found an example of "gism" (apparently meaning nectar) that
> was probably written before 1800, by a member of the family of
> Benjamin Franklin.  The word is, however, denounced as a
> vulgarism.  I suppose that there were some Irish immigrants before
> that date, and even before the Revolution, but would their
> influence have been great enough to have words adopted by the Franklins?

The following almost certainly does not affect the implausibility of
an Irish origin, but:

There certainly were Irish immigrants -- and frequently deplored --
in the early 18th century; in particular, there was resistance to
their coming into Boston between 1715 and 1725.  (Colonials deploring
the Irish goes back to the 1630s.)  As for quantity, "By far the
greatest number of [indentured] servants and redemptioners came from
that country during the eighteenth century."  (References upon request.)

As for the Franklin family, Ben was certainly familiar with the
vulgar tongue -- see the 1736-7 "Drinkers Dictionary" (even though I
have deprived him of its authorship).

Joel

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