[Ads-l] Slight Antedating of Precursor of "Ivy League"

[dave@wilton.net]

[ https://www.wordorigins.org/big-list-entries/ivy-league ]( https://www.wordorigins.org/big-list-entries/ivy-league )
 
 
-----Original Message-----
From: "Shapiro, Fred" <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
Sent: Sunday, December 18, 2022 11:29am
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: [ADS-L] Slight Antedating of Precursor of "Ivy League"



The term "Ivy League" first appeared in 1935. In its entry for "Ivy League," the OED cites the precursor term "Ivy colleges" with a 16 Oct. 1933 use by Stanley Woodward in the New York Herald Tribune. Here is a slightly earlier use of "Ivy colleges" by Woodward:

1933 Stanley Woodward in N.Y. Herald Tribune 14 Oct. 16/1 (ProQuest) A proportion of our Eastern Ivy colleges are meeting little fellows another Saturday before plunging into the strife and the turmoil.

It is interesting to note that the Ivy League colleges, which now possess so much academic and social prestige, were chosen on the basis of football rivalries, and the Army and Navy military academies, so different academically, socially, and historically from the eight Ivy schools, almost were included in the league because of football patterns.

Fred Shapiro

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