[Ads-l] Tunafish - 1916

[victor steinbok]

OED has "tuna fish" as "canned tunny" with earliest quotation from 1917. I
did a parallel search for "tuna fish" and "tunafish", and the latter gave
me multiple hits from 1917 and one magazine from 1916. In fact, almost
every issue of Trade for 1916 mentions tunafish, often in connection with
California banners. As such, the "tunafish" term for canned tuna can likely
be pushed to 1914 with better resources. If you have access to the printed
version, for 1914 or 1915, it's easy enough to browse.

Here's the quote from the earliest issue:

Lots of consumers who now and then buy a can of salmon have never tasted
tunafish. Why not get them to try a can?

Timely Tips For Busy Merchants. Trade: A Journal for Retail Merchants, vol.
23, n. 3, January 19, 1916. P. 10 c. 1.

https://books.google.com/books?id=FKsxAQAAMAAJ&pg=RA26-PA19&dq=%22tunafish%22&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&source=gb_mobile_search&ovdme=1&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwip7fjNkMGHAxWulYkEHUU6BS8QuwV6BAgqEAY#v=onepage&q=%22tunafish%22&f=false

The second set of 1916 citations comes from The Hotel Monthly, Vol. 24, n.
279, June 1916.

On pages 52 and 53 there are lunch menus from the Chittenden, Columbus, OH.
Under Salads, there are two listings of "Catalina Tunafish".

I'm still working on the search patterns but the question, for me, is
whether "tunafish" was introduced around WWI or if the print is simply
coincidental and the term is actually older.

VS-)

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