[Ads-l] Antedating of "Syncipation" (Dance Music Influenced by Ragtime)

[Shapiro, Fred]

In the heading of this posting, "syncipation" should have been "syncopation."

Fred Shapiro

________________________________
From: Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu>
Sent: Thursday, April 30, 2026 6:18 AM
To: American Dialect Society <ads-l at listserv.uga.edu>
Subject: Antedating of "Syncipation" (Dance Music Influenced by Ragtime)

syncopation (OED, 3.b., 1921)

1896 Brooklyn Daily Eagle 6 Sept. 4/7 (Newspapers.com)

Ben R. Harvey [sic] invents and plays what he calls rag time airs and dances, the effect of syncopations being to make the melody ragged. ... A brunette from South Carolina is with him, and the dances and cake walks of the two are quaint and good.

Fred Shapiro

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