[Ads-l] Very Small Antedating of "Dixie"

[Jonathan Lighter]

Nice, Fred.

There can't be any doubt that the form "Dixie" appeared in Emmett's song
from the beginning.

The text, however, seems not to have been published till 1860. Possibly the
earliest published quote from the song to include the word "Dixie"
[Newspapers.com]:

1860 _Daily Times-Picayune_ (N.O.) (Apr. 19) 1: To the tune of "I wish I
was in Dixie."

This may have been posted earlier.

JL

On Wed, Jul 23, 2025 at 9:38 AM Shapiro, Fred <
00001ac016895344-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:

> Barry Popik and Jonathan Lighter have done magnificent etymological
> research on the word "Dixie," connecting it to the name of a children's
> game and to the "Mason-Dixon Line."  Here is a tiny (one-day) antedating of
> the OED's entry for "Dixie" meaning the Southern United States:
>
> Dixie (OED 1959 [4 Apr.])
>
> 1859 New York Herald 3 Apr. 7/5 (Newspapers.com)
>
> BRYANT'S MINSTRELS. ... DIXIE'S LAND, another new Plantation Festival.
>
> Fred Shapiro
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>


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