[Ads-l] Bunkum maybe (?) antedated to 1824, Re: [ADS-L] bunkum = 'nonsense' (1838)

[Stephen Goranson]

CURIOUS DUEL

Two Frenchmen had a dispute some time last week [...they armed quite heavily and elaborately ...] the day appointed, one of the party thinking New-Hampshire was the place, and the other Rhode-Island, each took his road, and we have not heard one single report as yet; this misunderstanding might be by mutual consent; when the challenge was given, they whispered so loud, that Wilson, the city crier's voice, was that of a humming bird to it. As they are travelling in opposite directions, they calculate upon long shots.

MONS. BUNKUM

9 July 1824 Friday p. 3 col. 2, New-England Galaxy and United States Literary Advisor [Boston] [ProQuest]


Stephen Goranson
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From: American Dialect Society <...> on behalf of Laurence Horn <...>
Sent: Wednesday, January 18, 2017 11:22 AM
To: ...
Subject: Re: [ADS-L] bunkum = 'nonsense' (1838)

Just speculating, but I wonder whether dog-Latin (or mock Latin) might be at work (or at play) here, as with "hocus-pocus" (whence perhaps "hoax"?) and various other innovations over the centuries; cf. https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__en.wikipedia.org_wiki_Dog-5FLatin&d=CwIFaQ&c=imBPVzF25OnBgGmVOlcsiEgHoG1i6YHLR0Sj_gZ4adc&r=uUVa-8oDL2EzfbuMuowoUadHHcJ7pjul6iFkS5Pd--8&m=ZG-oUoP3Ipzoxw35n-6FGjxol8EdDZuItDvQTL-8c0k&s=Qugz09Z6rTBRrd6Poozuex4YUV_WX_kchmC2dRN9wyc&e=  (although admittedly the write-up doesn't include "bunkum" *or* "hocus-pocus"). Granted, if I'm right, we might expect "buncum" as the spelling, but maybe we're dealing with mock mock Latin.  Anyway, it's a fun, if incomplete, wiki-entry.

LH

> On Jan 18, 2017, at 11:05 AM, Ben Zimmer <..> wrote:
>
> While "bunkum" is widely believed to be derived from an 1820 speech by
> a congressman from Buncombe County, NC (he was "speaking to/for
> Buncombe"), the 'nonsense' meaning of "buncombe"/"bunkum" didn't
> develop until later. The OED2 entry (which hasn't been updated since
> 1888!) has the meaning 'political claptrap' from 1850 with pure
> 'humbug' attested later. Merriam-Webster gives a first date of 1845
> for "bunkum," and the Online Etymology Dictionary says 1841.
>
> Here's an example from 1838 (via Newspapers.com).
>
> Wyoming [Pa.] Republican and Farmer's Herald, May 16, 1838, p. 3, col. 1
> It is not to be expected of us that in dealing fairly with this
> people, we are afraid of our own shadow, and must talk _Bunkum_ like
> our neighbor, sound and fury signifying nothing.
>
> (As HDAS notes, "bunkum" could also mean 'excellent' around the same
> time, just to confuse matters.)
>
> --bgz
>
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