Antedating of "Hepcat"

[Jesse Sheidlower]

On Mon, Mar 18, 2013 at 04:28:04PM -0400, Ben Zimmer wrote:
> On Mon, Mar 18, 2013 at 3:46 PM, Wilson Gray wrote:
> >
> > On Mon, Mar 18, 2013 at 8:15 AM, Shapiro, Fred wrote:
> >>
> >> hepcat (OED 1938)
> >>
> >> 1937 _Wash. Post_ 17 Nov. 16 (ProQuest Historical Newspapers)  According to
> >> music lovers, 1937 vintage, Eddie is a "hep cat" which means that he tosses
> >> out a mean mess of swing.
> >
> > books.google.com/books?id=0oRUAAAAYAAJ
> > The Virginia spectator - Volume 1 - Page 150
> > University of Virginia - _September, 1937_ - Snippet view - More editions
> > (In the jargon of the musical world, a _hep cat_ is one who is in the
> > KNOW, and knows he is in the KNOW; an icky was described at length in
> > the last issue of " Canned Swing").esults (0.13 seconds)
>
> It looks like Sept. '37 is the date of the first issue in the volume,
> but the issue covers the whole '37-'38 school year. That quote appears
> to be in an early '38 issue, so I don't think it beats the WaPo cite.
> (_Cab Calloway's Cat-alogue_ was published in '38, so the Virginia
> Spectator writer may have been cribbing from that.)

The OED now has examples from July and August 1937 in our files, from
music magazines.

Jesse Sheidlower
OED

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