[Ads-l] mammoth, adj.

[Ben Zimmer]

The Atlantic's Megan Garber writes about the "mammoth cheese" of 1801,
delivered to Thomas Jefferson from Cheshire, Mass.:

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/01/the-real-story-of-the-white-house-and-the-big-block-of-cheese/384676/

She writes: "It was the first time 'mammoth' was used as an
adjective." OED3's earliest cite is from an Oct. 22, 1801 letter by
Jefferson referring to a "mammoth veal," which was actually inspired
by the "mammoth cheese." Here's the earliest reference I've found to
the cheese as "mammoth":

1801 _New-Hampshire Gazette_ (Portsmouth, NH) 4 Aug. 3/1
Albany, July 28. Extract of a letter from a gentleman in Berkshire
(Mass.) to his friend in this city.
I have nothing new or strange to tell you, excepting of a Mammoth
Cheese which the Cheshire people are making to present to the Mammoth
of Montecello.

--bgz

-- 
Ben Zimmer
http://benzimmer.com/

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