Tonton Macoute

[Stephen Goranson]

The OED 2nd ed (1989) gives:
"Tonton Macoute [a. Haitian French, of uncertain origin]"
Many publications, mostly recent ones, confidently assert (rightly or no; and, of course, this may already be in unpublished OED files) that this refers to a figure in Haitian folklore, a sort of anti-Santa Claus, Uncle Gunnysack, who abducts bad kids.
Alternate spellings include ton ton, macoutte, macout.
Alternate translations include Uncle [nuncle] Sack, Basket, Bag, Straw Bag, Market-basket, Satchel.

A comparatively early text:
World Newspaper Archive in partnership with the Center for Research Libraries
 The Times-Picayune; Date: 04-15-1962; Page: 26; col. 4  Location: New Orleans, Louisiana
"Tonton is creole for old man. Macoute means bag. In Haitian mythology Tonton Macoute was a terrifying bogeyman who put disobedient children into his bag and carried them off to slavery."

A brief tour of online sources suggest that there may not be abundant early written documentation for the exact collocation; it may possibly have been transmitted mostly orally.

But folk art does attest to the figure a bit earlier:

New Ceramics From Haiti; From the steaming tropical jungles comes a resurgence of art--primitive, sometimes crude--but definitely original and intriguing
Virginia Stewart. Los Angeles Times (1923-Current File). Los Angeles, Calif.: Jul 25, 1954. p. L12 (2 pages)

A photograph is captioned: "...a figure of the mythological character, Tonton Macoute."

Stephen Goranson
http://www.duke.edu/~goranson

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