[Ads-l] Origins of the Term "Ragtime"

[Cohen, Gerald L.]

Please note the following article by Fred Hoeptner:
Revised: Etymology of “Ragtime”: Role of “Tag, Rag, and “Bobtail” (The Rabble) and the 19th Century “Fancy Rag Balls”<https://scholarsmine.mst.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1186&context=artlan_phil_facwork>
Available online:
https://scholarsmine.mst.edu/artlan_phil_facwork/185/

Gerald Cohen

________________________________
From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of Shapiro, Fred <00001ac016895344-dmarc-request at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Tuesday, April 28, 2026 3:36 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Subject: Origins of the Term "Ragtime"

I am not a musicologist -- in fact, I think that I have less understanding =
of music than the average person.  But I do have knowledge of researching w=
ord-histories.  One interesting word-history is that of "ragtime."

Until recently, the term "ragtime" was thought to have been originated by s=
ongwriter Ben Harney, with the first use occurring in August 1896.  The Oxf=
ord English Dictionary still has Harney as its earliest citation for "ragti=
me."  In 2018, however, I discovered that the actress-singer May Irwin was =
quoted using "rag time," in the San Francisco Examiner, January 5, 1896.  I=
 also found several other newspaper citations from before Harney came on th=
e scene.

"Ragtime" had a prehistory.  I have been able to collect a number of exampl=
es of usage of the word "rag" that suggest the evolution of the musical gen=
re before the full name was coined.  I list these examples below:

A. W. Norris, the tinker, who has a shop near the Fourth street bridge, pro=
bably plays for more dances than any other man on earth. ... Norris plays f=
or the kind of dances known as "rags."  He can play a waltz on the fiddle, =
but the only kind of music in demand is "rag" music. ... Norris knows only =
one "rag" tune, but this is sufficient for all occasions.
Atchison (Kansas) Daily Globe, December 1, 1891, page 4, column 6

The Lime Kiln Club, colored suburban, at a mile and fifty yards, in which a=
ll the riders were men of color, caused a little merriment before the start=
. ... Then the band played a "rag": "There's a new coon in town."  This mel=
ody tickled Luke Flowers, Wild Robin's pilot, nearly to death, and during h=
is efforts to suppress his mirth, and to keep his seat in the saddle, he wo=
uld say, "Dat rag reminds me ob old times, boys."
Call (San Francisco), May 14, 1893, page 7, column 3

Atchison society is happy because the only man who could play "rag" music h=
as moved back to town after an absence of several months.
St. Joseph (Missouri) Daily News  November 30, 1893, page 4, column 3

Passing along Sixteenth street near Franklin avenue last night I heard an o=
ld colored woman, who was sitting on the sidewalk, say in a commanding tone=
: "Sallie, you better quit dat playin' dem 'rags' on dat pianer!"  The live=
ly dance-time was abruptly ended ... As all this happened within two minute=
s I am puzzled to account for her disapproval of "dem rag tunes."
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 14, 1894, page 4, column 5

Kansas City girls can't play anything on pianos except "rags," and the wors=
t kind of "rags" at that.  "The Bully" and "Forty Drops" are their favorite=
s.
Leavenworth (Kansas) Herald, December 8, 1894, page 3, column 2

If the present "rag" craze does not die out pretty soon, every young man in=
 the city will be able to play some kind of a "rag" and then call himself a=
 piano player.
Leavenworth (Kansas) Herald, April 13, 1895, page 3, column 3

The enthusiasm over the rendition of this wonderful symphony, and other sel=
ections on the Thomas program, was quite as intense as that which followed =
the performance of the "rag" music Monday night.
Courier (Lincoln, Nebraska), April 20, 1895, page 8, column 2

These snippets may pose more questions than they answer, but some implicati=
ons stand out.  For the first time we have concrete evidence that ragtime -=
- both the word and, more importantly, the musical phenomenon the word desc=
ribes =97 had certain characteristics prior to the watershed year of 1896. =
 The genesis of ragtime seems to have been centered in the African American=
 communities of Kansas (particularly Atchison and Leavenworth) and neighbor=
ing states.  San Franciso also played a role, which was to become important=
 in 1896.

We see that, before the January 1896 naming of "rag time" that focused on t=
he ragged rhythm, the word "rag" was used for a recognized type of music th=
at was "in demand" as early as 1891 and a "craze" by 1895.  Rag music was p=
layed by individual musicians and by bands and in concerts.  Instruments in=
cluded fiddles and pianos.

A later article, appearing in the New York Herald, April 25, 1899, page 5, =
column 4, pointed to a perhaps even earlier era and a different part of the=
 country as possible sources of the origin of "rag time":  "In the South, c=
olored bands are usually volunteer affairs. ... An ununiform band in the So=
uth is, very often, a rag band and the music of a rag band is called rag mu=
sic, or 'rag time' music."  This comment helps to link the pre-1896 languag=
e with the post-1896 phraseology.

The Oxford English Dictionary has a sub-entry for "rag," sense 2.a., "A mus=
ical composition written in ragtime; a ragtime tune."  Their oldest citatio=
n for that sense is dated 1894, so my findings above are antedatings of the=
 historical record.

Fred Shapiro


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