[Ads-l] "snupper" - derivation and definition?

[James Eric Lawson]

OED and Bartlett (_Dictionary of Americanisms_, 1848, 1859) derive this
sense of 'snoop' from Dutch (and Low German). Modern Dutch 'snup' (long
u) translates as 'grab'. Bartlett in 1859 (and possibly 1848) describes
the use as "peculiar to New York".

https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015005262970&view=1up&seq=465&q1=snoop

See OED 'snoop', intransitive sense 1, "To appropriate and consume
dainties in a clandestine manner. U.S." and the later development,
transitive sense 3, "To steal, to misappropriate."

On 1/9/22 12:36 PM, Nancy Friedman wrote:
> The author of the New Yorker article is a self-described Millennial. The
> author of the 1927 book is, of course, long dead.
> 
> On Sun, Jan 9, 2022, 12:25 PM Charles C Rice <charles.rice at louisiana.edu>
> wrote:
> 
>> I like the idea that someone who published a book in 1927 might be on
>> Twitter. FWIW, I've been to quite a few estate sales in the New Orleans
>> area and never seen or heard of a "snupper."
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> On Behalf Of
>> Nancy Friedman
>> Sent: Sunday, January 9, 2022 1:12 PM
>> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>> Subject: "snupper" - derivation and definition?
>>
>> CAUTION: This email originated from outside of UL Lafayette. Do not click
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>>
>>
>> I came across "junk snupper" in Lizzie Feidelson's New Yorker article
>> about estate sales, published online January 7, 2022:
>>
>> https://www.newyorker.com/culture/on-and-off-the-avenue/the-wild-wonderful-world-of-estate-sales
>>
>> I haven't been able to find a relevant definition or derivation for
>> "snupper" in any of the dictionaries at my disposal. (Urban Dictionary has
>> a fanciful entry for snupper = "snack" + "supper.") I did find a 1927 book,
>> "The Junk Snupper: The Adventures of an Antique Collector," but the online
>> excerpt wasn't very helpful. I've queried the author via tweet but haven't
>> had a response.
>>
>> "Snatcher-upper," maybe?
>>
>> From the New Yorker article:
>>
>> In her book “Out of the Attic: Inventing Antiques in Twentieth-Century New
>>> England
>>> <
>> https://www.amazon.com/Out-Attic-Twentieth-Century-Historical-Perspective/dp/1558497102?ots=1&slotNum=0&imprToken=f6bf2005-8525-1d6a-bf2&tag=thneyo0f-20&linkCode=w50
>>> ,”
>>> the social historian Briann Greenfield describes how, at the beginning
>>> of the twentieth century, when the value of antiques began to rise, a
>>> middle-class cadre of enterprising “junk snuppers” began departing in
>>> cars from urban centers to the countryside, where they knocked on
>>> farmhouse doors and kindly offered to relieve inhabitants of any
>>> mint-condition Americana. She cites a 1907 antiquing guide called “The
>>> Quest of the Colonial,” which advises junk snuppers to identify
>>> possible marks by looking for “the sight of chairs on a porch.”
>>>
>>
>> Nancy Friedman
>> Chief Wordworker
>> www.wordworking.com
>> http://nancyfriedman.typepad.com
>> Medium <https://medium.com/@wordworking>
>>
>> tel 510 652-4159
>> cel 510 304-3953
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-- 
James Eric Lawson

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