[Ads-l] chebang (antedating, 1840)

[Peter Reitan]

My 1854 "chebang" reference was the earliest reference I found using "Chebang" in the sense of a fraternal organization.

https://esnpc.blogspot.com/2015/03/bad-ale-ramshackle-buildings-and-odd.html


There are other early examples using "chebang" as onomatopoeia, like "bang".  I believe this liberty pole example from 1840 may be in the onomatopoeic sense of the word, referring to the sound of the snapping of the wood when the pole broke.

There is an 1849 example, referring to "che-bang" as the sound of a gunshot.  Weekly Arkansas Gazette (Little Rock), March 29, 1849, page 3. Newspapers.com

There are suggestions that the fraternal order sense of the word could possibly be related to a Masonic understanding of the Hebrew word "shebang" or "shabang" meaning to swear an oath.

Most of the examples I found using "chebang" in the sense of an organization or meeting, were from Ohio and western Pennsylvania.  There is at least one more example, which I found after posting my article, from the Cincinnati Enquirer, August 29, 1856, page 1. Newspapers.com  Coincidentally, that example also refers to a political pole being raised.

In referring to a political meeting in support of Millard Fillmore - "While the Fillmore 'chebang' was at its height in Newport on Wednesday, a large body of Democrats assembled in that city, and proceeded to a beautiful spot near the banks of Licking, where they raised a splendid hickory pole, surmounted by a mammoth rooster."

Early examples of "shebang", in the sense of a tent may come from the Irish "shebeen," used to refer to unlicensed vendors of alcohol.

At some point, one or more of he various uses may have merged to mean the whole group or outfit - whole shebang.  The precise mechanism is unclear to me, but appears to have been the tent version, from shebeen, perhaps influenced by shebang, or chebang, as a fraternal organization.

I would be interesting in others' thoughts on the question.
________________________________
From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of Bonnie Taylor-Blake <b.taylorblake at GMAIL.COM>
Sent: Tuesday, October 15, 2024 12:07 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Subject: chebang (antedating, 1840)

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Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
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Subject:      chebang (antedating, 1840)
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Many of you are far more familiar with research into "chebang" than I,
but I thought I'd bring what appears to be an antedating of the word.
(Last I heard, for example, Peter Reitan had pushed this back to 1854:
https://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2015-November/139602.html.)

-- Bonnie

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(About the raising of Liberty poles. Text within asterisks is
italicized. Bonus early "O K oll korrect" in the full text at the URL
below.)

On Wednesday night last, they again cut the flag rope, and broke the
top of the pole off; by the way you will suppose our pole was getting
rather *short*, and as the Locos advertised a general meeting of their
party to raise a pole of their own, the whigs (ever ready to meet
them, any way they choose to take it) concluded to raise a new one --
about 2 o'clock, P.M., both poles arrived in the village; the whig one
was 120 feet long; the *Hickory* one considerable shorter -- in a few
minutes both poles were were under way -- the loco focos foremost, (as
they were four times as numerous as the whigs, who had not advertised
their meeting) when they had theirs about half way up, off come the
top chebang; and Mr. Editor, it would have one you good to have seen
them at that time ...

[In a letter to the editor dated 3 October 1840, The Village Record
(West Chester, Pennsylvania), 6 October 1840, p. 2;
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-record-the-top-chebang-10640/157182814/.]

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