[Ads-l] Antedating of "Gerrymander"

[Shapiro, Fred]

The OED is, among other things, an incredibly extensive record of word-coinages.  However, because of the enormity of research and editing necessary to fully document the coinages, there are well-known coinages that have gone for scores, even centuries without being fully covered by the OED.  For example, Herb Caen's well-known coinage of "beatnik" in 1958 is not included in the Dictionary.  And then there is "gerrymander," which has been in OED since 1899 without encompassing the famous and colorful origination of that word.  Here is the antedating:

gerrymander (OED 1812 [23 May])  1812 Boston Gazette 26 Mar. The Gerry-mander. A new species of Monster, which appeared in Essex South District in January last.

Here is a link to the image of the original Boston Gazette page.  Unfortunately, I do not know the page number.

https://historycambridge.org/articles/the-gerry-of-gerrymandering-was-one-of-ours-co-writer-of-the-bill-of-rights-and-a-vice-president/

I want to give credit to the late Joel Berson, who, when I posted a 27 Mar. 1812 citation for "gerrymander" about twenty years ago, pointed out that the word was printed one day earlier than that as a headline above the monstrous map.

Fred Shapiro

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