[Ads-l] Antedating of "Banjo"

[Shapiro, Fred]

banjo (OED 1764)

1740 in Dictionary of Americanisms [Jamaican context]

1749 Pennsylvania Gazette​ 20 July 3/3 (Newspapers.com)  Run away, some months ago, from Capt. Thomas Prather, of Prince George's county, Maryland, a Negroe man, named Scipio, is of short stature, plays on the Banjo, and can sing.

Fred Shapiro

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org