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

Thu Jan 27 00:16:49 UTC 2022

> Modern Dutch 'snup' (long u)

Long u is spelled oe in Modern Dutch, not u. The verb snoepen means, among
many other things,
to snoop.

On Wed, Jan 26, 2022 at 10:43 AM ADSGarson O'Toole <
adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:

> Here is an instance of "junk snupping" in September 1925. The writer
> was C. R. Clifford who also used "junk snupper" in 1926 as noted by
> James Eric Lawson.
>
> [ref] 1925 September 26, The Saturday Evening Post,  New Trails To Old
> Things: For the Collector of Americana by C. R. Clifford, Start Page
> 44, Quote Page 44, Column 1, The Curtis Publishing Company,
> Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Google Books Full View) [/ref]
>
> https://books.google.com/books?id=DBs7AQAAIAAJ&q=snupping#v=snippet&
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> Junk snupping is no mere plebeian sport. History doesn't state whether
> it was the joy of discovery or the joy of acquisition which motivated
> the adventures of George II, but a stock episode in the literature of
> all furniture chronicles says that the king on one of his tours made a
> find that delighted him. It was a quaint old spindle-backed chair in
> an out-of-the-way tavern. He bought it and installed it in Windsor
> Castle—hence the name Windsor chair.
> [End excerpt]
>
> Garson
>
> On Mon, Jan 10, 2022 at 11:25 PM James Eric Lawson <jel at nventure.com>
> wrote:
> >
> > I probably bit this off too short, not to mention typing "Dutch" when
> > the translation (to English 'grab') is of the Danish word 'snup'. To
> > expand on the shortness of my first post on this topic: in 1898
> > (antedating the 1924 citations in OED) a use in The Saint Paul Globe of
> > 17 May, p 7, already suggests the "misappropriation" sense:
> >
> > "The Twelfth boys had a heap of fun with a Hebrew junk man who was
> > 'snooping' around the camp during the morning."
> >
> > https://shorturl.at/pBHI5
> >
> > On March 30, 1926, an article titled "The Junk Snupper" by C.R. Clifford
> > appears on p 62 in The Saturday Evening Post. Among other uses of the
> > phrase (see link), the article includes this:
> >
> > "...my friend, Bill Lovell, the inveterate junk snupper."
> >
> > https://shorturl.at/ilCM6
> >
> > The November 1926 issue of House Beautiful, in an article titled "Chats
> > About Antiques", p 545, refers, I suppose, to the Clifford article
> > (among others?), and glosses 'junk snupper' thus:
> >
> > "A 'junk snupper', it seems, is a person who pokes in all the
> > out-of-the-way corners and unexpected places where rubbish and junk
> > accumulate, and picks up wonderful finds that other people have
> overlooked."
> >
> > https://shorturl.at/ekpIO
> >
> > An article titled "Rare Old Book Displays Silhouette of Harrison" in the
> > April 16, 1934 home edition of The Indianapolis Times, p 6, foregoes the
> > cutsy spelling and echoes Clifford, perhaps coincidentally, while adding
> > to the characterization of the snupper:
> >
> > "An inveterate 'junk snooper,' however, can rise to heights of
> > enthusiasm over a rare antique even though there is no hope of owning
> it."
> >
> > https://shorturl.at/wLR89
> >
> > On 1/9/22 12:47 PM, James Eric Lawson wrote:
> > > 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
> > >>> links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know
> the
> > >>> content is safe.
> > >>>
> > >>>
> > >>> 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
> > >>> twitter/instagram  Fritinancy
> > >>>
> > >>> ------------------------------------------------------------
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> > >>>
> > >>> ------------------------------------------------------------
> > >>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> > >>>
> > >>
> > >> ------------------------------------------------------------
> > >> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> > >>
> > >
> >
> > --
> > James Eric Lawson
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

-- 
- Wilson
-----
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