[Ads-l] Antedating of "Loony" (Adjective)

[Shapiro, Fred]

Nice.  I wonder if "luny" was some kind of nautical slang.

Fred Shapiro

________________________________
From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
Sent: Friday, March 7, 2025 4:20 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Subject: Re: Antedating of "Loony" (Adjective)

Intriguing citation, Fred. Following your lead, here is a citation for
"luny" with the desired sense in the nautical domain in 1841.

Year: 1841
Book Title: Life in a Man-of-war: Or Scenes in "Old Ironsides" During
Her Cruise in the Pacific
Author: Fore-Top-Man (Copyright by Henry James Mercier and William Gallop)
Publishing Information: Lydia R. Bailey Printer, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fbooks.google.com%2Fbooks%3Fid%3DBJE9AAAAYAAJ%26q%3Dluny%23v%3Dsnippet%26&data=05%7C02%7Cfred.shapiro%40YALE.EDU%7Cf754a5501ae142859e4f08dd5dbddbf9%7Cdd8cbebb21394df8b4114e3e87abeb5c%7C0%7C0%7C638769792196340092%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=rdq%2BUlrKQVkzGo5ODFA8wspBwN%2FoCdvpObO7Oj7engI%3D&reserved=0<https://books.google.com/books?id=BJE9AAAAYAAJ&q=luny#v=snippet&>

[Begin excerpt]
"Poor foolish fellow, I reckon he found the fish was too quick on the
heel for him." "He's a little luny ain't he, Garnet?" enquired one of
the crowd. "Well, I believe he is somewhat touched that way, for I
heard him say yesterday when old Bowser the forecastle man was telling
about a fellow that went across the harbour of Malta at the tail of a
kite, that all those things were sufficacious or efficacious, or some
such big dictionary word, and that in a little time a person might
even walk dry-footed on water."
[End excerpt]

Garson

On Thu, Mar 6, 2025 at 10:43 AM Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu> wrote:
>
> The Oxford English Dictionary revised its entry for the word "loony" in 2023.  The earliest citation for the adjective "loony" is dated 1865.
>
> In 1991, Jane Garry and I published a note in the journal American Speech in which we pointed out that this adjective appears in a story by Herman Melville titled "Bartleby, the Scrivener."  Below is our citation from the original magazine publication of the story:
>
> 1853 Putnam's Monthly Magazine Nov. 551
>
> "Ginger Nut," said I, willing to enlist the smallest suffrage in my behalf, "what do you [the word "you" is italicized] think of it?"
>
> "I think, sir, he's a little luny," [the word "luny" is italicized] replied Ginger Nut with a grin.
>
> Fred Shapiro
>
>
>
>
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