[Ads-l] Antedating of "Reggae" Not Picked Up by OED

[Shapiro, Fred]

It seems to me that Dave Wilton's 2022 website entry (wordorigins.org) for the term "reggae" contains a significant addition to the information in Ben Zimmer's pathbreaking 2005 posting and the OED's 2009 entry.  The OED has two senses for "reggae."  Sense 1 is the reggae dance.  Sense 2 is the reggae musical genre.  Sense 2 is the more important one.  The OED's first use for sense 2 is dated 22 Nov. 1968.  But Dave's entry includes the following, not covered by Ben's reference to a 7 Sept. 1968 advertisement nor by the OED:

1968 Kingston Daily Gleaner 7 Sept. 7/5  (advertisement) Hear these new Fab. Tunes: ... Reggae. [This appears in a list of titles.]

This seems to be the title of a specific song, so arguably it does not belong with the OED's "musical genre" sense, but it is the first known use of this important word referring to music.  Perhaps it should be added to the OED entry for sense 2 in square brackets.

Fred Shapiro

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