[Ads-l] ringshout

[Stephen Goranson]

Amy, from OED online for ring-shout, n.

U.S. regional (southern).

  1.
1926–
In African American use: a religious dance in which participants move in a circle, accompanied by loud, rhythmic singing; cf. shout <https://www.oed.com/dictionary/shout_n2?tab=meaning_and_use#23036993> n.2<https://www.oed.com/dictionary/shout_n2?tab=meaning_and_use#23036993> 1d<https://www.oed.com/dictionary/shout_n2?tab=meaning_and_use#23036993>.
     *
1926
In the Louisiana bayou country she saw the Negroes perform that weird religious rite known as a ring shout, semi-savage, hysterical, mesmerizing.
E. Ferber, Show Boat 155

1931
The ‘ring shout’..is apparently widespread. In this, the shouters form a circle and proceed around and around in a sort of slow processional, facing always in one direction.
R. W. Gordon in A. T. Smythe et al., Carolina Low Country 199
1942
Shouting appears to be of two types: Along the coast of Georgia and South Carolina the most popular form is the ring-shout.
L. Parrish, Slave Songs of Georgia Sea Islands iii. 54
1970
A ‘ring-shout’—a shuffling dance in counter-clockwise direction performed by a circle of worshippers which gradually intensified in tempo and collective excitement.
P. Oliver, Savannah Syncopators 56

2004
This weekend-long celebration of African-American heritage features..a ‘
ring-shout
’ with schoolchildren and drummers marching and making noise around the periphery of the original African Burial Ground.
Time Out New York 30 September 56/3

Etymology
Summary
Formed within English, by compounding.
Etymons: ring <https://www.oed.com/dictionary/ring_n1?tab=meaning_and_use#25408257> n.1<https://www.oed.com/dictionary/ring_n1?tab=meaning_and_use#25408257>, shout <https://www.oed.com/dictionary/shout_n2?tab=meaning_and_use#23036993> n.2<https://www.oed.com/dictionary/shout_n2?tab=meaning_and_use#23036993> 1d<https://www.oed.com/dictionary/shout_n2?tab=meaning_and_use#23036993>
<ring <https://www.oed.com/dictionary/ring_n1?tab=meaning_and_use#25408257> n.1<https://www.oed.com/dictionary/ring_n1?tab=meaning_and_use#25408257> + shout <https://www.oed.com/dictionary/shout_n2?tab=meaning_and_use#23036993> n.2<https://www.oed.com/dictionary/shout_n2?tab=meaning_and_use#23036993> 1d<https://www.oed.com/dictionary/shout_n2?tab=meaning_and_use#23036993>

sg
________________________________
From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of Amy West <medievalist at W-STS.COM>
Sent: Wednesday, February 7, 2024 8:27 AM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Subject: ringshout

I just listened to an excellent episode of the Afropop podcast about the
African-American Georgia ringshout and the LA Easter Rock.

https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://afropop.org/audio-programs/the-ring-and-the-shout__;!!OToaGQ!tj2KjsNeHXt9wvJxpdz4FHlNfgVLre8fxeRUB62unOXok9DgEWvoqcmPeh5DfMXmM4_fnMbOkBV7CnxBdzjr2A$

The etymology is given at the 34:30 mark, citing Lorenzo Dowd Turner.

In it there's an etymology cited for "shout" here, which refers to the
sliding step not the vocalizing. The etymology cited derives it from an
Arabic word referring to the spiraling walk done around the Kabah(sp?)
in Mecca. And that's also what the "rock" refers to in Easter Rock. And
there's a group, the Mackintosh County Shouters, that performs this, and
so, again "Shouter" has that reference to the step.

Folklorists think that elements derive from Congo traditions.

I don't have access to OED Online, so I don't know if this is already in it.

---Amy West

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