[Ads-l] antedating dobro

[Bill Mullins]

> From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> On Behalf Of Dan Goncharoff

> Sent: Sunday, October 6, 2019 3:42 PM

> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU

> Subject: Re: antedating dobro

>

> ----

>

> Aren't those uses referring to the name of the manufacturer, the Dobro

> Manufacturing Company?

>

> On Sun, Oct 6, 2019, 12:06 PM Bill Mullins <amcombill at hotmail.com<mailto:amcombill at hotmail.com>> wrote:

>

> > Dobro - OED has 1952

> >

> > From a display ad:

> > _Detroit [MI] Times_ 21 Jan 1931 p 7 col 5

> > "1 Dobro Guitar . . . . . . $30.00"

> >

> > From a classified ad:

> > Portland OR _Oregonian_ 8 Jan 1933 Sec 2 p 6 col 1 "CLEARANCE SALE

> > MUSICAL GOODS . . . . new Dobro amplifying guitar, $27.50"

> >

> >



 I suppose you are right, but they seemed consistent with the definition as given in the OED.  Maybe they should be [bracketed]?


Here are examples, perhaps better, where it is used as a noun rather than adjective.


_Honolulu Star-Bulletin_ 22 Jun 1932 p 2 col 1 [display ad]

"There is an exclusive tone to a DOBRO, rich, vibrant, and true;  a tone not found in any other fretted instrument."


_Sydney [Australia] Morning Herald_ 9 Mar 1946 p 20, col 4 [classified ad]

"ELEC. GUITAR, Amp, Microphone, £25; Dobro, £15; another, £6/10.  All first-class."


The earliest cite in the OED in which "dobro" means a specific type of guitar, without regard to manufacturer, is 1969.


_Kansas City [MO] Times_ 5 Apr 1954 p 5 col 1

"The Tennesseans, clad in green suits, red string ties and white plantation hats, attacked standard guitars with great fervor, abetted by Shot Jackson, dobro guitar; Benny Martin, fiddler, and Lester Wilburn, bull fiddle and gourd." [semi-colon as in original]


_Circleville [OH] Herald_ 5 May 1960 p 2 col 6 [display ad]

"The Kountry Kut-Ups featuring Old Time and Country Music with the 5 String Banjo, Fiddle, Dobro and Mandolin."




slack key guitar


OED has 1975 for "slack key guitar" and 1976 for "slack key" (as a style of music played on the slack key guitar)


_Hononlulu Star Bulletin_ 3 Jul 1922 p 4 col 1

"Guitar solo (slack key) by Cadet D. Kialoa, accompained by Cadet Rogers, double bass, and Cadet Simerson, ukulele."


_Honolulu Advertiser_ 12 Oct 1937 p 7 col 2

"Among the outstanding performers in the group are Senni Bird, sensational slack-key guitar player, and Elizabeth Su'a, vocalist."


The 1954 Dobro cite above includes the term "plantation hat", which is not in the OED.


_Natchez [MS] Weekly Courier_ 14 Jun 1848 p 2 col 4

"A NEGRO slave named Charles was committed to the jail of this county as a runaway, by Justice Vanhoesen, on the 9th inst.; is of black complexion, about 23 or 25 years old, 5 fee 10 inches high, bushy hair and slender made; had on striped cotton pants, cotton shirt, plantation hat and brogans."


_Montgomery [AL] Advertiser_ 30 Apr 1911 p 29 col 5

"On the wash stand we see the bowl, soap cup and tooth brush holder used by him for many years and on the rack his plantation hat worn habitually by him at Beavoir."


Greenwood SC _Index-Journal_ 22 Mar 1962 p 8 col 5

"Hat bands may be pure silk, or, in the case of the "Plantation" hat, a blue and white bandanna handkerchief."


And the 1848 "plantation hat" cite above makes reference to brogans, for which the OED has 1846.


[St. Albans] _Vermont Republican_ 10 Nov 1813 p 4 col 5 [display ad]

"ALSO: -- Men's & Boys THICK BOOTS and BROGANS which may be had very low for cash."





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