[Ads-l] shenanegin antedated (?) to 1854

[Jonathan Lighter]

Hitherto secret:

1856, in _Calif. Historical Society Qly._  ix (1930) 62: Tryed to play
chinanigan but couldn't make it rip.

1859, in Hafen & Hafen _Reports from Colo._ 195: They are...adepts at
wire-working, or "shenanaging,"

I.e., tried to pull a fast one but couldn't make it fly.

JL

On Mon, Jul 6, 2015 at 2:12 AM, Benjamin Barrett <gogaku at ix.netcom.com>
wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Benjamin Barrett <gogaku at IX.NETCOM.COM>
> Subject:      Re: shenanegin antedated (?) to 1854
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> No antedatings, but a few citations suggesting the word is from miners
> in California. Also, a couple of toponyms, which might be where the
> original shenanigan happened, or which might be named after the word was
> in currency. Last, a person "commonly called Shenanigan."
>
> 1. http://bit.ly/1S1NGHC
> Dictionary of Americanisms: A Glossary of Words and Phrases Usually
> Regarded ...
> By John Russell Bartlett
> Google dated: 1877
> Lists "shenanigan" as a word in California and Yale College
>
> 2. http://bit.ly/1S1NUyz
> Americanisms: The English of the New World
> By Maximilian Schele de Vere
> Google dated: 1872
> Lists "shenannigan" as "probably a purely fictitious word ... frequently
> heard in the South and the West, and denoting groundless bragging for
> the purpose of getting the better of another."
>
> 3. http://bit.ly/1ffN852
> Camp and Cabin: Sketches of Life and Travel in the West
> Rossiter Worthington Raymond
> Googled dated: 1880
> ("Shenannigan" is the miner's term for humbug.)
>
> 4. http://bit.ly/1Tfmp72
> The War of the Rebellion: Formal reports, both Union and Confederate, of
> the ....
> United States. War Dept, Robert Nicholson Scott
> Google dated: 1971
> "May 15, 1864, Sergeant Byrnes with a detachment of four men returned to
> camp from Shinanigan Mountain, having scouted on Kushka's for five days
> without discovering any traces of the Indians.... between Bear River and
> the North Fork of Mattole."
>
> 5. http://bit.ly/1KJoNA5
> Blog comment by Laura Cooskey
> 19 July 2011
> Buck Miner's "The Origin of Mattole" has a story on p. 103 about the
> name of Bunnel Prairie Creek. He says Mr. Bunnel (no first name) was the
> blacksmith in a location between Upper Mattole and Honeydew who took in
> the orphaned survivor of the Squaw Creek massacre, who then, via Mike
> Schallard of Shenanigan Ridge, ended up in Bear River area adopted by
> the Morrison family.
>
> 6. http://bit.ly/1IDPPc7
> Shenanigan Campground, perhaps in Yuba County, CA
>
> 7. http://bit.ly/1H2mmE9
> Memoirs of the Museum of Comparative Zool?ogy at Harvard College, Volume 6
> Front Cover
> Harvard University. Museum of Comparative Zoology
> Google dated: 1880
> Immediate opposite Spanish Dry Diggings, on the other side of the river,
> at a place known as Shenanigan Hill, ....
>
> 8. http://bit.ly/1HGQdpt
> Annual Report
> U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey
> Google dated: 1911
> Chaparral Mountain (Humboldt County, Cal. A. F. R., 1871).--On what is
> called the Shenanigan Hill, a peak of the Punta Gorda Ridge.
>
> 9. http://bit.ly/1giFZ4c
> Congressional Series of United States Public Documents, Volume 2027
> U.S. Government Printing Office
> Google dated: 1882
> I seized from the man commonly called Shenanigan, on barrel of mash, ....
>
>
> Benjamin Barrett
> Formerly of Seattle, WA
>
> Learn Ainu! https://sites.google.com/site/aynuitak1/home
> > ADSGarson O'Toole <mailto:adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
> > July 5, 2015 at 12:56 PM
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster: ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
> > Subject: Re: shenanegin antedated (?) to 1854
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > Here is another example of "shenanigan" from 1855. This is later than
> > Stephen's cite and the first OED cite, but it might still be useful.
> >
> > Date: September 1855
> > Journal: Yankee-Notions
> > Volume 4, number 9
> > Article: The Magician and the Miner
> > Quote Page 280
> > Publisher: T. W. Strong, New York
> >
> > [Begin excerpt]
> > An individual who had attended several evenings and witnessed the
> > "experiment," suspected, in the classic language of the times, that
> > there was something of "shenanigan" in it. He thought the probability
> > was, that the individual in the pit who fired the pistol was
> > invariably an accomplice, dressed for the nonce in miner's clothes;
> > and as a true, independent, self-reliant Californian, he thought he
> > would assume the responsibility of testing and adjusting matters for
> > his own satisfaction, as well as for the good of the community
> > generally.
> > [End excerpt]
> >
> >
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