[Ads-l] Antedating of "Geronimo"
ADSGarson O'Toole
adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM
Tue Jan 10 19:47:46 UTC 2023
Excellent investigation, James. Thanks for sharing your discoveries.
Garson
On Tue, Jan 10, 2023 at 3:26 AM James Eric Lawson <jel at nventure.com> wrote:
>
> 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
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
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