[Ads-l] Antedating of "Buckeye" and "Buckeye State"

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Barry Popik has a pertinent webpage which lists an 1832 book which
also says "the lasses of Ohio are called “buck-eyes".

Origin of “Buckeye” (Ohio nickname)
https://barrypopik.com/blog/origin_of_buckeye_ohio_nickname

[Begin excerpt from barrypopik.com]
A Ramble of Six Thousand Miles Through the United States of America
By Simon Ansley Ferrall
London: Published by Effingham Wilson
1832
Pg. 68:

The corn was heaped up into a sort of hillock close by the granary, on
which the young “Ohiohians” and “buck-eyes” — the lasses of Ohio are
called “buck-eyes”— seated themselves in pairs; while the old wives,
and old farmers were posted around, doing little, but talking.
[End excerpt from barrypopik.com]

Garson

On Tue, Jun 10, 2025 at 9:27 PM Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu> wrote:
>
> George H. Scheetz coined the term "demonym," meaning a name for natives or residents of a particular geographical location.  The most prominent demonyms for people in particular U.S. states are probably "Hoosier" (Indiana) and "Tarheel" (North Carolina).  Third place might go to "Buckeye" (Ohio).
>
> The Oxford English Dictionary has an entry for "Buckeye" (sense 2.a.) with an earliest citation dated 1823, but that and other early citations in the OED and the Dictionary of Americanisms appear to refer broadly to American backwoodsmen rather than specifically Ohioans.  The following citations are the oldest I have been able to find for the specific Ohio denotation:
>
> 1832 Saturday's Advertiser (Liverpool, England) 18 Aug. 262/3 (Newspapers.com)  The lasses of Ohio are called "buck-eyes."
>
> 1833 Lafayette (Indiana) Free-Press, and Commercial Advertiser 27 July 1/6 (Newspapers.com)  An Ohio Editor says that what follows is an extract from a speech delivered by a member of the legislature of Indiana; but some of our 'Hoosher' Editors contradict the "Buck-eye."
>
> The first of those citations is a very surprising one, in two different ways.  It appeared in a British newspaper, and its reference was solely to women.
>
> The OED does not have an entry for the Ohio state nickname, the "Buckeye State."  The Dictionary of Americanisms has an entry for this, dated 1837.  Here is the earliest antedating I have found:
>
> 1835 Telegraph (Painesville, Ohio) 6 Mar. 3/2 (Newspapers.com)  There are but few, if any, among us, who would be willing to exchange our connexion with the Buck-eye State for the doubtful fortunes of our acquisitive neighbors.
>
> Fred Shapiro
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org