Jazz, was:RE: [ADS-L] Q: "Earliest written reference to baseball"

[Victor Steinbok]

That's interesting--just as a coincidence. I just sifted through,
briefly, through an issue of Trans. Philological Society, 1866,
specifically, the glossary for the Dialect of Banffshire. And, among the
rest of some very odd stuff (I am not familiar with Gaelic), there is an
entry for "jass".

http://goo.gl/Uh5Of
> Jass, /n. /(1) a violent throw; a dash; as " He threw 'im our wee a
> /jass." /(2) A heavy blow; as, " He got a /jass //o' /the back it
> knockit 'im on's nose." (3) The noise made by a heavy blow, or by
> anything falling heavily. Another form is /yass. //Jass /is a stronger
> term than /joss, /which is given by Jamieson.
> Jass, /v.a. /to throw with violence; to dash ; as, " The ae loon
> /jasst /the ither our on's back." /Joss, /given by Jamieson, is a
> milder term.
> Jassan, n. a violent tossing or shaking ; a violent dash.

In particular, note (3) under "Jass, n.".

     VS-)
On 3/16/2011 10:16 AM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> My tentative belief for decades has been that it is a form of _jasm_,
> which is attested for decades before 1912.
>
> It meant both both "energy" and "seminal fluid." Presumably "energy" came
> first.
> (Cf. the similar development of  - mainly British - _spunk_.)
>
> JL

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