[Ads-l] Provisional comments on jitney in David L. Gold, L.B. 2018-2020

[Stephen Goranson]

In the song chorus "I'm an F. F. V." may mean a member of the "First Families of Virginia," maybe, meant jokingly, maybe.

"Jetney Queen" in later usage, as jitney girl or jitney queen, maybe, took on a different meaning, or maybe not. See Green's Dic. o' Slang at jitney.

Numismatically speaking, there are many medals in Europe and the U.S. from the 19th century ff called a jeton or jetton. Some even have the word "jeton" on them. For example, a 'liberty seated" obverse and eagle reverse with "jeton" beneath the eagle." And a liberty head obverse and jeton on reverse. Or simply the word "jeton" on one side of the marker. American J. of Numismatics, July and October 1884, etc.; and images vis google, etc.

Stephen G.


3 previous messages Nov. 2020:

Correction, Aimée Isabella Crocker's third husband wrote the music. Harder to test a proposal when one has to hunt for the information.
SG
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Subject: Re: Provisional comments on jitney in David L. Gold, L.B. 2018-2020

As mentioned below, David Gold (p. 406) cites a "1898" text "In the colored parlance I'm the Jetney [...]"
He does not provide a citation of the source. Perhaps he means the 1897 song lyric in "The Jetney Queen," words by Carol Fleming--or by  Aimée Isabella Crocker (December 5, 1864 – February 7, 1941)?

In any case, sheet music here:
https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://digital.library.ucla.edu/apam/librarian?VIEWPDF=SY106949PDF__;!!OToaGQ!_VH_ZabYAehs_ggUq1IzpATqfy1CzAuxIoI1bCDlKBTPEW-kh2-FRKWRnom16RJG$

Stephen Goranson

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Subject: Provisional comments on jitney in David L. Gold, L.B. 2018-2020

Concerning the publication, David L. Gold, “Pursuing the origin of the American English informalism _gitney ~ jitney_: On the alleged Louisiana French word _*jetnée_ and the fallacy of omne ignotum pro magnifico in etymological research,” Leuvense Bijdragen 102 (2018-2020) 383-417.
1) The first sentence of the Abstract (p. 383, with my ellipses) included: “The author’s first treatment of the informal American English noun _gitney ~ jitney_...(Gold 2009b)…”
I’m not sure how important it may be, but A. Liberman’s Bibliography of English Etymology lists at jitney, Gold 1983b, 1983h, and 1985b. And Gold 2009b, Chapter 9, “American English _jitney_....” in his Studies in Etymology and Etiology… (2009) 163-192 at footnote 1 reads: “This is an expanded version of an article which appeared in _Leuvense Bijdragen_ 87, 1988, pp. 155-170.” Also, Gold’s latest article cites me once at ads-l 20 July 2016, (a post which also requoted, with typos corrected, a 3 July post); those combined refer to Liberman’s Bibliography at jitney, among other publications, and also Gold’s 2009 publication.
2) David Gold may have misunderstood my proposal. I wrote that jitney/jetney may have derived from French jeton: “The antedatings of jitney (1899) and jetney (1898), as well as the 1915 memory of jetnée may show the origin in Black Louisiana French, from jeton.”
Quoting out of context sentence fragments of what I wrote (p. 408) may misrepresent what I think and thought and wrote.
Gold wrote “In its present state, Stephen Goranson’s suggested etymology of gitney ~ jitney rests on no verified evidence.” Whether that’s accurate I leave to readers.
Gold announced (409, 410, and bibliography) a forthcoming article that presumably will expand on an—uncited—1898 text including “In the colored parlance I’m the Jetney[…]”

Stephen Goranson
http://people.duke.edu/~goranson/


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