[Ads-l] Antedating "U.S."

[Laurence Horn]

Wondering if either of you, or anyone else to hand, has antedates for
U.S.A., which the OED conflates with U.S. but provides no instances of.
Presumably they have no cites prior to 1834 or they’d have listed them.
Just curious what the time lag was between U.S. and U.S.A., I’m guessing
with the former at least somewhat earlier (especially since military
contexts might be absent).

LH (please excuse duplicate messages--having mailer problems)
LH

On Jan 12, 2021, at 3:22 PM, Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU> wrote:

Great work, Jon !  Here's a slightly earlier citation:

1787 _Pittsburgh Gazette_ 3 Mar. 4/1 (America's Historical Newspapers)  W.
FINNEY, Capt. first U. S. Reg.
NOTE:  This occurs in a notice dated 1786.

Fred Shapiro


________________________________
From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of
Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
Sent: Tuesday, January 12, 2021 2:21 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Subject: Antedating "U.S."

OED: 1834

1788 _Kentucky Gazette_ (Lexington) (Oct. 11) 1: Capt. 1st U.S. Reg.

1790 _Pennsylvania Packet_ (Phila.) (Apr. 26) 3: The bill for regulating
the military establishment of the U.S.

1791 _Aurora General Advertiser_ (Phila.) (Dec. 6) 4: Constitution of the
U.States....Laws of the U.S.

1797 _Hartford Courant_ (Sept. 11) 1: The part...will be lost by a division
of the U.S.

1798  _Spooner's Vermont Journal_ (Windsor, Vt.) (July 17) 2: It will be
proper to take into view the public audiance [sic] given to the late
Minister of the U.S. on his taking leave of the executive directory.

1807 _Public Advertiser_ (NYC) (Jan. 20) 2:  In the House of
Representatives of the U. States, on Thursday, Jan. 15, the bill providing
for the punishment of certain crimes against the U.S. was read the third
time and passed without a division.

JL
--
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society -
https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.americandialect.org%2F&data=04%7C01%7Cfred.shapiro%40yale.edu%7C112543aca58f4f09708a08d8b72f52b6%7Cdd8cbebb21394df8b4114e3e87abeb5c%7C0%7C0%7C637460761162682566%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=KYwoh%2BFDhddSZrUh1u%2FhDHiec6tKX%2FDAm%2BIJmdVGDf4%3D&reserved=0

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org