[Ads-l] Antedating of "Geronimo"

James Eric Lawson jel at NVENTURE.COM
Tue Jan 10 08:25:32 UTC 2023


The following citations, etc., are part of the missing
historical evidence of the origin of the 'Geronimo!'
exclamation, as yet unacknowledged (to date) by OEDO et al.
These may constitute part of what John Simpson called an
"unrecognized prehistory" (_The Word Detective_, 2016, p 121)
of the word.

POMP MARKS PAGEANT
Type: Newspaper Article
Author: Scripps-McRae Press Associates
URL: https://www.newspapers.com/clip/116113476/pomp-marks-pageant/
Place: Cincinnati, Ohio
Pages: 3/1-2
Publication: The Cincinnati Post
Date: 1905-03-04
Archive: newspapers.com

        Extract: LO, GERONIMO! (headline)

[Geronimo's story of his life
Type: Book
Author: Geronimo
Author: S. M. (Stephen Melvil) Barrett
Contributor: University of California Libraries
URL: https://archive.org/details/geronimosstoryof00gerorich/page/54/mode/2up
Place: New York
Publisher: New York : Duffield & Co.
Date: 1906
Accessed: 1/9/2023, 11:19:17 AM
# of Pages: 310
Archive: Internet Archive

    Extract: Geronimo’s Indian name was Go khlä yeh, but the
    Mexicans at this battle called him Geronimo, a name he has
    borne ever since both among the Indians and white men. [p
    54]

    Term: Geronimo! [Exclamation not used; background
    information regarding Geronimo’s name supplied by S.M.
    Barrett.]]

Apache agent: the story of John P. Clum
Type: Book
Author: Woodworth Clum
Contributor: Internet Archive
URL:
https://archive.org/details/apacheagentstory0000clum/page/28/mode/2up?q=cry
Place: Lincoln, Nebraska
Publisher: University of Nebraska Press
ISBN: 978-0-8032-0967-1 978-0-8032-5886-0
Date: 1936 (1978 printing)
Accessed: 1/9/2023, 11:26:24 AM
Abstract: [8] leaves of plates; "A Bison book"; 1978 reprint of the 1936
ed.  published by Houghton Mifflin, New York.
# of Pages: 342
Archive: Internet Archive

     Extract: When dawn came and the battle was resumed,
     Gokliya was not content to fight according to Apache
     custom, from behind rocks and greasewood bushes. Instead,
     he rushed into the open many times, running zigzag and
     dodging so that bullets from the rurales’ rifles did not
     hit him. Each time he ran out this way, he killed a rurale
     with his hunting knife, took the rurale’s rifle and
     cartridges, and ran zigzag back again to his people.
     Gokliya did not know how to use the rifles, so he gave
     them to other Apache warriors, who had served with
     Cochise, chief of the Chiricahuas, and had learned how to
     use them. So fearlessly did Gokliya fight that the Mexican
     rurales became more cautious, and when they saw Goklya
     come out into the open, with only his hunting knife as a
     weapon, they would shout, ‘Cuidado! Cuidado!  Geronimo!’
     (‘Look out! Be careful! Here comes Geronimo!’) [p 28-9]

     The Apaches were quick to see that the rurales were afraid
     of Gokliya. They did not know why they called him
     ‘Geronimo’; thought it might be the name of some god who
     did not like the rurales. So when Gokliya would jump out
     from be- hind a rock or tree and run swiftly toward a
     Mexican, the Apaches also shouted ‘Geronimo,’ until it
     became the common battle-cry. Toward evening, when
     sun-tints on the mountains changed to purple, the Mexicans
     ceased to fight, and went back on the trail from which
     they had come. The Chiricahuas rejoiced in their victory.
     Three of the rurales’ ponies had been killed in the
     fighting, and Apache women made them into meat for eating.
     At the feast, Gokliya was made much of, but all of his
     people now called him Geronimo, and not Gokliya.

     Always thereafter, Geronimo was his name. [p 29]

     Extract: As this unusual and somewhat historical
     procession stepped down off the porch, led by Sergeant Rip
     and Nachee, followed by Geronimo and his sub-chiefs, with
     a rear guard of Beauford and half a dozen Apache police,
     the rank and file of the renegades were dumbfounded.
     Geronimo always had claimed a charmed life, and his people
     had believed him. He had often boasted that he never would
     be captured or killed. At many campfires for many years,
     he had retold the story of the battle of Kiskayah, against
     the Mexicans, when his name was changed from ‘Gokliya’ to
     ‘Geronimo.’ And when he would repeat that battle-cry of
     the Mexicans, ‘Cuidado, Geronimo; Cuidado, Geronimo,’ his
     listeners in unison would echo, ‘Cuidado, Geronimo; enju.’
     But now the great Geronimo, humiliated and a prisoner, was
     being marched past the very noses of his followers. Much
     as they had come to believe in his omnipotence, they now
     had to believe their eyes. [p 226]

     Extract: ‘Geronimo! Geronimo!!’ the crowd yells
     frantically.  Hats are tossed in the air.

     ‘Geronimo! Hooray for Geronimo!’ [p 291]

     Comment: Account of battle in which Geronimo! became the
     battle-cry and Gokliya’s name. Book by Woodward Clum, John
     P.  Clum’s son.

'Geronimo' Is Yell of the 'Chute Boys
Type: Newspaper Article
Author: Henry M'Lemore
URL:
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/116152654/geronimo-is-yell-of-the-chute-boys/
Place: Hammond, Indiana
Pages: 1/1
Publication: The Hammond Times
Date: 1941-06-22
Accessed: 1/9/2023, 8:37:17 PM
Short Title: Observer Hears Battalion Cheer on Way to Earth
Archive: newspapers.com

     Extract: ‘Geronimo’ Is Yell of the ‘Chute Boys (headline)

     Extract: I’ve no business writing this story because it’s
     not down my alley, but somehow I feel this country needs
     to know about the battle cry “Geronimo, Geronimo.”

     Extract: As they fell they yelled “Geronimo, Geronimo” and
     they were still yelling it when they pounded to earth.

     Extract: No one knows just how the cry was adopted. One of
     the early chutists yelled the famed chieftain’s name, and
     they’ve all been yelling it ever since.

Look Out Below! (Geronimo!) (Song Of The Paratroops)
Type: Audio Recording
Performer: Fred Waring and His Pennsylvanians
Performer: Fred Waring
Performer: Jack Dolph
Contributor: Internet Archive
URL:
http://archive.org/details/78_look-out-below-geronimo-song-of-the-paratroops_fred-waring-and-his-pennsylvan_gbia0071899f
Date: 1942
Accessed: 1/7/2023, 12:28:06 AM
Label: Decca
Performer: Fred Waring and His Pennsylvanians
Writer: Fred Waring; Jack Dolph
Archive: Internet Archive

     Extract: [song title on record label:] Look Out Below!
     (Geronimo!) (Song Of The Paratroops)

     Comment: Possibly the song referred to by Winters in
     _Beyond Band of Brothers_ (2006). Not related to Charles
     Thatcher’s 19th century Australian ballad “Look out
     below”. Relationship to Larry E.  Johnson’s 1924 copyright
     “Look out below” not discoverable by me at this time.

[Catalog of copyright entries. Part 3: Musical compositions.
Type: Catalog
Author: Library of Congress
URL:
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uiug.30112042370772&view=1up&seq=700&q1=look%20out%20below
Pages: 1794/2
Publication: Catalogue of copyright entries. Part 3, Musical compositions
Date: 1942 Nov 9 [entry copyright date]
Publisher: Library of Congress, Copyright Office.
Accessed: 1/7/2023, 12:37:04 AM
Archive: HathiTrust

     Extract: “Look out below”; w & m Fred Waring and Jack
     Dolph c Nov. 9, 1942.

     Comment: Informational citation regarding 1942 song
     elsewhere parenthetically titled (Geronimo!) and (Song of
     the Paratroops).]

Geronimo: the man, his time, his place
Type: Book
Author: Angie Debo
Contributor: Internet Archive
URL:
https://archive.org/details/geronimomanhisti00debo/page/12/mode/2up?q=cry
Place: Norman, Oklahoma
Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press
ISBN: 978-0-8061-1333-3
Date: 1976
Accessed: 1/9/2023, 8:53:28 PM
# of Pages: 512
Archive: Internet Archive

     Extract: Into this setting Geronimo was born. He was given
     the name Goyahkla, with the generally accepted meaning
     “One Who Yawns,” why or under what circumstances is not
     known One can guess that yawning was the habit of a sleepy
     baby, but no characterization could have been more
     inappropriate to the energetic spitir that marked his
     personality. Some aged Fort Sill Apaches suggest a name
     slightly different in pronunciation, with the meaning
     “intelligent, shrewd, clever.” As an adult, he became
     known by the Mexicans as Geronimo, and this name was
     adopted even by his own people. The Spanish-Apache feud
     had been inherited by the Mexicans after their
     independence; and according to one story, in a battle with
     them he was fighting like a fiend, charging out repeatedly
     from cover, killing an enemy with every sally and
     returning with the dead man’s rifle.  Each time he
     emerged, the Mexicans began to cry out in terror,
     “Cuidado! Watch out! Geronimo!” (Perhaps this was as close
     as they could come to the choking sounds that composed his
     name, or perhaps they were calling on St. Jerome.) The
     Apaches took it up as their battle cry, and Goyahkla
     became Geronimo. [p 13] [Cross-referenced by Debo to
     _Apache Agent_ (op. cit. Clum) and _Geronimo_ (op. cit.
     Barrett).]

     Comment: This work is cited as the standard biography of
     Geronimo by later authors, for example Utley in _Geronimo_
     (below), 2012, pp x, 278.

Paratrooper!: the saga of U.S. Army and Marine parachute and glider
combat troops during World War II
Type: Book
Author: Gerard M. Devlin
Contributor: Internet Archive
URL:
https://archive.org/details/paratrooper00stma/page/n15/mode/2up?q=geronimo
Place: New York
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
ISBN: 978-0-312-59654-5
Date: 1979
Accessed: 1/9/2023, 9:19:28 PM
Library Catalog: Internet Archive
# of Pages: 746
Archive: Internet Archive

     Extract: In the last analysis, it was a proper decision to
     reject all of the above and, instead to inscribe on the
     silver shield below the Ojibway Thunderbird, the cry of
     triumph which had issued so explosively from Sergeant
     Aubrey Eberhardt’s lips on that eventful day in the fall
     of 1940: GERONIMO! And thus it came to pass. [p xiii]

     Extract: “To prove to you that I’m not scared out of my
     wits when I jump, I’m gonna yell ‘Geronimo’ loud as hell
     when I go out that door tomorrow!”

     See that Eberhardt was fighting mad, and not wanting to
     anger the big man further (when Eberhardt got a little
     angry it was most unwise, and unhealthy, to make him
     angrier), everone agreed that his idea of yelling
     “Geronimo” when he jumped was excellent.

     … By this time, word had spread throughout the test
     platoon concerning Eberhardt’s plan to yell “Geronimo!”
     when he made his jumpt that day. Everyone wondered if he
     would really be able to do it.

     … With jumpers continuing to spill from the plane, a loud
     “Geronimo” shout, accompanied by an Indian war wheep,
     could be clearly heard like a clap of thunder. Without
     knowing it at the time, Private Aubrey Eberhradt had just
     originated what was to become the jumping yell of the
     American paratroopers. [p 70]

     Extract: The entire test platoon picked up the yell,
     shouting “Geronimo!” each time they went out the door on
     practice jumps.  [p 71]

     Extract: All circumstances and events surrounding the
     origination of the Geronimo yell were related personally
     to the author during a June 1973 interview with Eberhardt
     at his home in Roberta, Georgia. [p 673]

 From Benning to Shanks
Type: Book Section
Book Title: Beyond band of brothers
Author: Richard D. Winters
URL:
https://archive.org/details/beyondbandofbrot00wint/page/41/mode/2up?q=Geronimo
Publisher: Berkley Caliber
Pages: 304
ISBN: 978-0-425-20813-7
Date: 2006 Feb
Accessed: 1/7/2023, 12:47:53 AM
Archive: Internet Archive

     Extract: By this time, Easy Company had emerged as the
     strongest company in the regiment and the 506th PIR had
     become a source of pride to every soldier who wore its
     regimental patch. One of the popular songs on the radio
     was called “Geronimo,” and it was rapidly adopted as the
     paratroopers’ song. “Geronimo” became the password that
     paratroopers were supposed to holler when they jumped, but
     Sink would have none of it in the 506th. [p 41]


On 1/2/23 17:26, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> Maybe she shouted because the sudden appearance of Geronimo
> in person made her want to jump out of her seat?

Or, like the Mexicans in the battle when Geronimo got his
name, she shouted in fear? or, like the Apaches in the same
battle, she shouted to frighten the stranger accosting her in
the theater? So many possibilities exist, some admittedly more
likely than others.

> 
> In any case, it's hard to connect this incident, reported in
> December, 1939, with the various Ft. Benning Geronimos more
> than a year later.
> 
> JL
> 
> On Mon, Jan 2, 2023 at 7:34 PM James Eric Lawson
> <jel at nventure.com> wrote:
> 
>> The movie promoted the shout. So (at least, pending better
>> evidence):
>>
>> [1939  _Arizona Daily Star_ (Tucson) Geronimo...the red
>> savage whose name was a battle-cry of vengeance...is headed
>> this way! 24 Nov 12/6-7]
>>
>> And the article doesn't say (although it might *seem* to
>> imply) the woman "shouted because she suddenly recognized
>> the actor". The ambivalence is nicely managed.
>>
>> On 1/2/23 15:10, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>>> But the only individual actually uttering the name
>>> "Geronimo" in any of these exx. seems to be the film-going
>>> lady mentioned on Dec. 17, 1939.
>>>
>>> And she shouted because she suddenly recognized the actor
>>> "Chief Thundercloud" (Victor Daniels), who played
>>> Geronimo, sitting in front of her at a showing of that
>>> very film.
>>>
>>> JL
>>>
>>> On Mon, Jan 2, 2023 at 3:58 PM James Eric Lawson
>>> <jel at nventure.com>
>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> As for other US idioms, OEDO has failed us on "Geronimo!"
>>>> The rumored yell was rumored well in advance of the
>>>> 501st's adoption and the 1939 movie, although the 1939
>>>> clip following may partly explain the 501st's adoption:
>>>>
>>>> 1901  _The Intelligencer_ (Anderson, South Carolina) 30
>>>> Jan 7/3 "What a death to die!" said Sieve to the major,
>>>> and In reply, while Mike Grimes and Steve stood with
>>>> uncovered heads, the major lifted his face to the stars
>>>> and uttered Geronimo's yell.
>>>>
>>>> https://www.newspapers.com/clip/115659442/geronimo/
>>>>
>>>> 1927  _Arizona Republic_ (Phoenix) 23 Apr 4/3 At the
>>>> conclusion of her talk, Mrs. Greenway was greeted with
>>>> the Camp Geronimo yell of the
>> Scouts.
>>>>
>>>> https://www.newspapers.com/clip/115659946/geronimo/
>>>>
>>>> 1939  _Star Tribune_ (Minneapolis, Minnesota) 17 Dec 47/8
>>>> "Geronimo!" she yelled.
>>>>
>>>> https://www.newspapers.com/clip/115660275/geronimo/
>>>>
>>>> On 1/2/23 10:35, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>>>>> I think I'm the first educator/ lexicographer to seek
>>>>> out _Geronimo!_ (1939) [note exclamation point] to gain
>>>>> insight into the adoption of
>> the
>>>>> Apache chief's name as the war cry of the 501st
>>>>> Parachute Battalion.
>> Just
>>>>> by the way, it may be the only film in Hollywood history
>>>>> in which Andy Devine turns out tbe the real hero.
>>>>>
>>>>> In any case, I was hoping I'd see somebody jump off a
>>>>> cliff, if not out
>>>> of
>>>>> an airplane, shouting "Geronimo!"  Just as good would be
>>>>> 2,000 mounted Apache warriors yelling "Geronimo!" in
>>>>> unison as they attack the
>>>> seemingly
>>>>> helpless patrol of 16 cavalrymen. (The official numbers
>>>>> mentioned in
>> the
>>>>> script: guess who wins?)
>>>>>
>>>>> But no. The only actual shouting of "Geronimo!" comes at
>>>>> the start when
>>>> an
>>>>> anonymous horseman gallops into a settlement and cries
>>>>> "Geronimo!" to
>>>> warn
>>>>> that the Apache is again on the warpath.
>>>>>
>>>>> Since Fred's source reports that "Geronimo, Geromimo"
>>>>> was being shouted
>>>> all
>>>>> over the 501st's area at Ft. Benning "a thousand times a
>>>>> day," it may
>> not
>>>>> have been specifically jump-related at all. It may have
>>>>> started simply
>> as
>>>>> an encouragement to any kind of urgent action.
>>>>>
>>>>> JL
>>>>>
>>>>> On Sun, Jan 1, 2023 at 10:36 AM Jonathan Lighter <
>> wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com
>>>>>
>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> You're correct. I need stronger glasses.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> JL
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On Sun, Jan 1, 2023 at 10:34 AM ADSGarson O'Toole <
>>>>>> adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Here is a link to the article which credits Private
>>>>>>> Aubrey Eberhardt with first using the term during a
>>>>>>> parachute jump.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Article title: Paramount's 1939 western GERONIMO ... a
>>>>>>> forgotten
>> movie
>>>>>>> with a giant legacy Author: Ed Howard
>>>>>>> https://www.b-westerns.com/geronimo.htm
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> The above link was posted by Peter Reitan back in
>>>>>>> January 2017.
>>>>>>>
>>>>
>> https://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2017-January/146001.html
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Bill Mullins posted a citation dated April 29, 1941
>>>>>>> for Geronimo back in October 2016. I cannot find a
>>>>>>> citation dated April 19, 1941 from Bill for Geronimo.
>>>>
>> https://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2016-October/144693.html
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Garson
>>>>>>>

-- 
James Eric Lawson

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