[Ads-l] Overwhelming Evidence for "Jasm" As Etymon of "Jazz"

[Bonnie Taylor-Blake]

It's been several days since Fred sent this to the list and, as very much a
newcomer to "jazz" research, I've been sitting on my hands. On this topic,
I definitely defer to those of you (and there are several, including Barry
Popik, whom I've cc'd here) who have for years researched and written about
possible origins for "jazz," but I at least wanted to acknowledge Fred's
message and to thank him for it. All the recent research about historical
links between "jazzum" (and related forms) and "jazz" seem very compelling
to this outsider.

The excerpt from November, 1915 that Fred has shared (far below) reminds me
of something from September, 1915 that Barry and others have already noted
(e.g., https://x.com/barrypopik/status/1717028330673689042?s=20). Here, an
unnamed student publication links "jasm" with "'jazz' and 'pep'."

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Now that the delegates to the Association of American universities have
concluded their sessions, they are pondering over one of the products of a
recent university meeting. It is the circulation of a word of sonorous
sound and unknown origin -- "jasm."

It was first heard at the university meeting, when the president used it in
introducing a visiting educator. It was defined as "that energy by which a
buzz saw bites through a keg of nails." In other words, it is a twin to
such words as "jazz" and "pep."

While the educators can find no origin for the word, the athletes have
already added it to their vocabulary, and Saturday the football squads were
asked to show "jasm."

https://www.genealogybank.com/doc/newspapers/image/v2%3A136518060B9CC65F%40GB3NEWS-137C31FA47736C8A%402420743-1376A0FA0A39D747%401-1376A0FA0A39D747?clipid=ooidxufmlmpsmsvbusvouwzrucpmwgli_ip-10-166-46-189_1705528703528

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Now, the author does not make a historical connection between "jasm" and
"jazz"; perhaps the unnamed student-writer was unfamiliar with already
existing uses of "jazzum" (for "jasm") and its buzzsaw imagery/energy.

But is this the so-far earliest known pairing of "jasm" and "jazz"?*

>From the sidelines,
Bonnie

* We know that others had, rightly or wrongly, linked "jazz" and "jazzum"
(and university presidents) by at least 1922, e.g.,
https://x.com/barrypopik/status/1717024536124613091?s=20.

On Tue, Jan 16, 2024 at 2:07 PM Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu> wrote:

I apologize if I am stating the obvious, but isn't it a sure thing that
> "jasm," or spelling variants like "jazzum," is the etymon of "jazz"?
> Consider the following citation:
>
> 1915 _Observer_ (Corning, Cal.) 18 Nov. 1/5 (Newspapers.com) When a
> buzz-saw going at full speed runs into a keg of ten-penny nails, – that's
> JAZZ !
>
> Almost the identical words about buzz-saws and kegs of nails appear in
> numerous early discussions of "jasm" and spelling variants.  "Jazz" is not
> only phonologically a shortening of "jasm" etc., but it also was plugged
> into the exact semantic space occupied by the "jasm" words.
>
> Fred Shapiro
>
>

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