[Ads-l] New Earliest Citation for "Smog"

[Shapiro, Fred]

Yates is an intriguing figure.  If what Bierce says is correct, Yates was the coiner of the most prominent portmanteau word: smog.  The key figure in the development of the portmanteau-word concept was Lewis Carroll.  Guess who picked out "Lewis Carroll" as the pseudonym of Charles Dodgson ?  It was Edmund Yates, who was Dodgson's editor.  Maybe Edmund Yates was the one who turned Carroll on to portmanteau words.

Fred Shapiro



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From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of Stephen Goranson <goranson at DUKE.EDU>
Sent: Monday, October 24, 2022 1:18 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Subject: Re: New Earliest Citation for "Smog"

If not already mentioned, as the list search appears to be defective:
In The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary by Bierce, page 84 in the U. Georgia P. 2000 edition:

"Fog....and as Mr. Edmund Yates, by combining the words 'smoke' and 'fog,' gave to the London atmosphere the graphic name of 'smog,'...."

Presumably, Edmund Hodgson Yates (1831-1894)

sg
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From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of Stephen Goranson <goranson at DUKE.EDU>
Sent: Sunday, October 23, 2022 4:37 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Subject: Re: New Earliest Citation for "Smog"

Well, A. Bierce did spend time in CA and England (1870s) and used a name, Dod Grile, which may be a grin/smile portmanteau.

sg
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From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
Sent: Sunday, October 23, 2022 3:51 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Subject: New Earliest Citation for "Smog"

I have found another 1880 citation for "smog."  Since it occurs in a January 4 letter, it may be reasonable to regard this as earlier than the two other 1880 citations.


smog (OED 1905)

1880 _The Argonaut_ (San Francisco)_ 13 Mar. 11/1 (Internet Archive)

LONDON, January 4, 1880 ... Smoke and fog make perhaps the most unwholesome mixture known to human discomfort.  An English wit has named it "smog." ... CAL. A. FORNIA.


"CAL. A. FORNIA." is of course a pseudonym.  It is tempting to speculate that Ambrose Bierce was the author, since Bierce wrote for the _Argonaut_ and Bierce used the word "smog" in 1884, but I don't believe he was in London in 1880.  There seems to be some kind of connection between Northern California and "smog," since four of the five earliest known occurrences of "smog" were published in Northern California.

Fred Shapiro



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