[Ads-l] Dixie (1858)

[dave at WILTON.NET]

Damn! You're right. I never rely on the metadata date, but I guess I forgot to double-check it this time.


-----Original Message-----
From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> On Behalf Of Jonathan Lighter
Sent: Tuesday, June 23, 2020 4:38 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: [ADS-L] Dixie (1858)

Pretty impressive, Dave. But I had a terrible feeling that the ad's use of "Dixie" sounded as though everybody knew what it meant in 1858.

But another ad on the same page touts a concert by Miss Rundlett to be given "Monday Evening, May 4, 1863."

I believe the date of the paper should be "May 2, 1863" rather than "1858."


JL

On Tue, Jun 23, 2020 at 3:17 PM <dave at wilton.net> wrote:

> I've found an instance of "Dixie" referring to the American South from 
> 2 May 1858, about a year before it appears in Daniel Emmett's two 
> songs, "Johnny Roach" and "Dixie." I haven't seen anyone else report on this one.
>
> Classified Ad. Daily Herald (Newburyport, MA), 2 May 1858, 3. NewsBank:
> American’s Historical Newspapers:
>
> "BOUND FOR DIXIE.
> WELL get a good TRAVELLING TRUNK We are almost giving away Traveling 
> Trunks and have the largest assortment in the city, from $1.37 up to 
> $20—Now is the time to purchase one [a]t your own price, and then you 
> can leave just when you like, Your trunk being in order you can 
> vamoose. Call at TOPPAN & CO’S, 15 State street."
>
> Newburyport was a major port in the triangular trade of molasses, rum, 
> and slaves, and many residents would have business ties with and 
> reason to travel to the South.
>
> There are references to "Dixey's Land," referring to the children's 
> game, going back to the 1840s, but I don't know of any earlier geographic ones.
>
> A full write-up is at: 
> https://www.wordorigins.org/big-list-entries/dixie
>
>
>
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