[Ads-l] Antedating of "Hip"

[Shapiro, Fred]

Outstanding discovery on "hip," Stephen !  Was that on Newspaperarchive ?

Fred Shspiro

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From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of Stephen Goranson <0000179d4093b2d6-dmarc-request at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Tuesday, May 13, 2025 6:03 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Subject: Re: Antedating of "Hip"

And as soon as I get out I’m hep that the water’s froze. What do you think of that?
—The Washington Times (Washington, District of Columbia), 12 Feb., 1899
To define some of the circus slang the following schedule may be found useful … “Hip” means you are wise or “on.”
-The Denver Post, 28 Oct., 1902

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From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
Sent: Tuesday, May 13, 2025 5:49 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Subject: Antedating of "Hip"

"Hip" is one of the most important slang innovations of the twentieth century, perhaps the most important one after "jazz."  It has been the subject of much etymological controversy.  The Oxford English Dictionary's earliest citation is from a 1904 novel.

I have found three 1903 newspaper articles employing the word "hip":

1903 Nevada State Journal 1 Oct. 5/1 (Newspapers.com)  Oh, I gets hip to all de bulls dis eve, pretty pronto. ... If I was that council bunch — is you hip to what would spring ?

1903 Nevada State Journal 6 Nov. 3/1 (Newspapers.com)  You knows I put you hip, I'se quit the bo biz, you see. ... I'se hip to dat sanctimonious bunch for fair.

1903 World (New York) 20 Nov. 12/2 (Newspapers.com)  Let me put you hip — he's there just as strong as he ever was.

The two Nevada State Journal articles both present dialogue by a presumably fictional hobo named "Sloppy Weather Dick."  No author is credited for those articles.  There is no indication of "Sloppy Weather Dick"'s ethnicity.  In the New York World article, the speaker is a real boxer in San Francisco named Joe Kennedy.

Fred Shapiro

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