calabooza (1847) & calybuce

[Joel S. Berson]

For another form (and fairly early, for the 1989 OED) --

“Calabooza!  Calabooza Beretanee!” (the English
Jail), cried our conductor, pointing to the building.

1847.  Herman  Melville, Omoo – A Narrative of
Adventures in the South Seas.  1968, Evanston and
Chicago:  Northwestern University Press and the Newberry Library, p. 116.

(Jesse should have this in his files.)

Joel

At 9/15/2011 12:29 AM, Grant Barrett wrote:
>A listener to the radio show points out the
>following form of "calaboose" 'prison, place of punishment."
>
>http://goo.gl/8j1AC
>http://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/craft/craft.html
>
>"For instance, it is a common practice in the
>slave States for ladies, when angry with their
>maids, to send them to the calybuce sugar-house,
>or to some other place established for the
>purpose of punishing slaves, and have them
>severely flogged; and I am sorry it is a fact,
>that the villains to whom those defenceless
>creatures are sent, not only flog them as they
>are ordered, but frequently compel them to submit to the greatest indignity."
>
>1860, William Craft's "Running a Thousand Miles
>for Freedom; or, the Escape of William and Ellen Craft from Slavery."
>
>Grant Barrett
>grantbarrett at gmail.com
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org