[Ads-l] Antedating of "Jinx" (Noun and Verb)

[Shapiro, Fred]

Garson O'Toole's 1900 citation for "jinks" is a great find.  The OED's etymology for "jinx" from a 17th-century term "jynges" meaning "A charm or spell" seems improbable.  The following two citations provide a clear etymon, the name of a character in a play..

1888 New York Daily Tribune 18 Jan. 4/6 (Newspapers.com)  "Little Puck," in which Mr. Frank Daniels presents himself at the Fourteenth Street Theatre [has] the following cast. ... Jinks Hoodoo, esq., a curse to everybody. ... Harry Mack.  [The last ellipsis marks are in the original text.]

1895 Hawaiian Gazette 19 Mar. 2/4 (Internet Archive)  We had a fellow passenger named Ficke ... He had a tip that the vessel would never reach San Francisco, and when questioned about the matter he would not give a satisfactory explanation for his strange feeling. ... At the time when the smoke was discovered most of the male passengers were in the smoking-room trying to "do"one another out of a dollar at the classic game of "cinch."  When they heard of the ship's escape the winners were glad and the losers declared that Mr. Ficke was a genuine "Jinks Hoodoo."

"Hoodoo" was a nineteenth-century African American spiritual tradition.

Fred Shapiro


________________________________
From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of ADSGarson O'Toole <00001aa1be50b751-dmarc-request at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Tuesday, February 17, 2026 8:45 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Subject: Re: Antedating of "Jinx" (Noun and Verb)

There have been threads antedating jinx (noun and verb) posted to this
list in the past, but these new citations appear to present further
progress. Here are two links to previous posts:

https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Flistserv.linguistlist.org%2Fpipermail%2Fads-l%2F2022-August%2F161943.html&data=05%7C02%7Cfred.shapiro%40YALE.EDU%7Ce10d388e3ba843a5d73008de6e8f6107%7Cdd8cbebb21394df8b4114e3e87abeb5c%7C0%7C0%7C639069759300950777%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=RMbbg%2FPIoLcoIOdCHGcII3anZBhWwxaEwonjustTwy8%3D&reserved=0<https://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2022-August/161943.html>
https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Flistserv.linguistlist.org%2Fpipermail%2Fads-l%2F2022-August%2F161937.html&data=05%7C02%7Cfred.shapiro%40YALE.EDU%7Ce10d388e3ba843a5d73008de6e8f6107%7Cdd8cbebb21394df8b4114e3e87abeb5c%7C0%7C0%7C639069759300982426%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=72rePxx%2BjOaH0qu70K0ATuzVNwFgJ6K5%2FII5Jap7lNA%3D&reserved=0<https://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2022-August/161937.html>

Garson

On Tue, Feb 17, 2026 at 8:28 PM ADSGarson O'Toole
<adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Excellent citations, Fred. Following your lead I found the phrase "Had
> the Jinks Put on Him" in a headline, and the phrase "she'd put the
> jinks on him" in the body of an article in November 1900.
>
> Date: November 14, 1900
> Newspaper: The Examiner
> Newspaper Location: San Francisco, California
> Article: TROUBLES OF DAN HOWSER Had the Jinks Put on Him and Then Went
> Down the Line
> Author: Joseph S. Jordan
> Quote Page 3, Column 4
> Database: Newspapers.com
> https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.newspapers.com%2Farticle%2Fthe-san-francisco-examiner-jinks%2F191552875%2F&data=05%7C02%7Cfred.shapiro%40YALE.EDU%7Ce10d388e3ba843a5d73008de6e8f6107%7Cdd8cbebb21394df8b4114e3e87abeb5c%7C0%7C0%7C639069759300997218%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=oEJ2EAyXqDEGyK56zn0gTM1fLDBuCnayQDlv6%2F7iJ94%3D&reserved=0<https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-san-francisco-examiner-jinks/191552875/>
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> "Venus sang a song to get the house in good humor. I think Tony said
> it was 'Don't You Go, Danny, Don't Go.' But Danny wouldn't stand for
> it. He said he had to get out and find out how the election went, and
> she told him if he pulled his freight she'd put the jinks on him. He
> threw out his chest and sang: 'What the Well Do I Care; What the Well
> Do I Care!'
> "Then she put the hoodoo on him and threw herself at the couch.
> [End excerpt]
>
> Garson
>
> On Tue, Feb 17, 2026 at 6:56 AM Shapiro, Fred
> <00001ac016895344-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:
> >
> > jinx, n. (OED 1911)  1903 San Francisco Chronicle 11 Dec. 4/2 (Newspapers.com)  Jockey C. Kelly thinks that the "jinks" are on him.
> >
> > jinx, v. (OED 1917)  1904 Los Angeles Daily Times 10 Nov. Part II, Page 3/1 (Newspapers.com)  The team has had so many misfortunes this season and the players have been fined so much by Dugdale and jinksed so much by incompetent managers that started out to win the penant [sic] without knowing how to manage ball players, that there is small wonder the men don't play their heads off to snatch a game when they can.
> >
> > Fred Shapiro



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