
Where Did 'Jazz,' the Word, Come From? (2018) - tintinnabula
https://www.wbgo.org/post/where-did-jazz-word-come-follow-trail-clues-deep-dive-lewis-porter
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adfm
Daniel Cassidy's "How The Irish Invented Slang" (CounterPunch & AK Press,
2007) has an entire chapter dedicated to the etymology of "Jazz" including
reprints of articles mentioned in the OP. It includes much of what Porter
writes about, but is a much deeper dive. It's well researched and worth the
read, but with a grain of salt.

Where Porter's parenthetical (I think “gin-i-ker” means “full of gin.”) is a
shot in the dark, Cassidy's polyglot ear for slang catches the Irish "tine
caor" (pron. jin-i-kær) meaning "raging fire and lightning," delivering a
livelier and more nuanced read. You'll see mention of Scoop Gleeson, but find
out he's holed up 40 miles north of SF in Boyes _Hot_ Springs, CA covering the
Seals spring training. There may never be a definitive answer to the headline
question, but as far as I know, this is likely as close as you'll get.

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jdietrich
I have to take some issue with this paragraph:

 _> But you can also see how Max Roach was wrong when he said they applied the
term “jazz” as an insult. This was advertising! “Come see this lively,
exciting, JAZZ music!” It would have made no sense if the word were perceived
as negative. Did the word have a sexual connotation in some circles, as he
claimed? Absolutely: any word for energy eventually has sexual connotations,
it seems. But that connotation came later, and in any case it probably wasn’t
the thinking of the white folks who named the music. On the other hand, did
the word stand in the way of many “respectable” people, white and also
religious black Americans, from accepting this new kind of music? Definitely
so._

I'm somewhat surprised that a jazz scholar would overlook the possibility that
the tropes used to promote black music in the early 20th century could be
deeply derogatory. The popularisation of jazz came very shortly after the peak
of minstrelsy. Contemporary descriptions of jazz by white authors often segue
rapidly from terms like "lively" and "exciting" to "primitive" or "savage".
Early jazz sheet music covers were far more likely to feature a racist
caricature than the image of a black artist; the marketing of early jazz
records is often barely distinguishable from the marketing of minstrel troupes
in previous decades. The sexual connotations of the term and the music cannot
be separated from the sexual demonisation of black men at that time.

[http://sci-hub.tw/10.2307/1512237](http://sci-hub.tw/10.2307/1512237)

~~~
fenomas
> I'm somewhat surprised that a jazz scholar would overlook the possibility
> that the tropes used to promote black music in the early 20th century could
> be deeply derogatory

From the paragraph before the one you quoted, I think the author's claim there
is that "jazz" wasn't (at that point) being used to refer particularly to
black music, so it follows that it didn't do so derogatorily.

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avip
Mandatory quote:

>If you have to ask what jazz is, you'll never know

\- Louis Armstrong

~~~
mieseratte
Reminds me of asking what punk is, only that one usually elicits a more
profane response.

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lucideer
> _The word “jazz” probably derives from_

> _It should be clear by now that all of the popular stories about the origin
> of the word are wrong_

Well that went from "probably" to clarity pretty quickly. (the rest of the
article doesn't mention the probable claim again; the only possible reference
is an OED quote about "jasm", not about "jazz").

While I'm sure the OED does make a compelling connection between "jazz" and
"jasm", it seems a bit disorganised for the article not to reference this
directly (presuming that's the author's source).

The tone is also so odd: it's as if it was written purely as a rebuttal to
some pub debate that the author had been particularly worked up about, zealous
exclamation-marks throughout.

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crazygringo
> _The Oxford English Dictionary, the most reliable and complete record of the
> English language, traces “jasm” back to at least 1860: J. G. Holland Miss
> Gilbert 's Career xix. 350 ‘She's just like her mother... Oh! she's just as
> full of jasm!’.. ‘Now tell me what “jasm” is.’.._

And "-asm" is such an unusual word ending in English, it makes me wonder how
"jasm" itself came about? (If I didn't know any better, seeing the word for
the first time I'd never guess it was supposed to be English.)

Running a regex on the dictionary, there are only a handful of other words
ending in it -- mostly "sarcasm", "orgasm", "chasm", "spasm", and various
scientific terms ending in "plasm" (e.g. "nucleoplasm").

~~~
id
"enthusiasm" is another one

~~~
Sharlin
Which has an interesting etymology. Also from Greek, but the original root
word is _theos_ , "god", from which is derived _enthous_ , "possessed by god",
and further _enthousiasmos_ , "being possessed by god", or less literally
"being inspired".

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blowski
See also:

[http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20170224-the-mysetrious-
ori...](http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20170224-the-mysetrious-origins-of-
jazz)

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mfb2
The story I heard when I was in music school was that the word jazz came from
the days of slavery. It was intended as a coded way to let others know that
there would be prayers and music that evening (e.g. Jass Tonight) but the 'S'
would be flipped around. The word stood for "Jesus Amen Save our Souls".

~~~
fenomas
Evan Morris, author of "The Word Detective" column that used to run in papers
and alt weeklies, used to perennially comment that acronyms in English were
quite rare until roughly WW1-WW2, and as such etymologies involving them ("to
insure promptness", "port out starboard home", etc.) are virtually always
false.

More to the point, TFA lays out various evidence why this particular theory is
unlikely.

~~~
OJFord
> "to insure promptness"

As in tipping service? It'd be _ensure_ anyway, surely?

~~~
fenomas
> As in tipping service?

The same. For whatever reason false etymologies based on acronyms abound, with
"tip" and "posh" being among the better-known. There's also "for unlawful
carnal knowledge" for fuck, "gentlemen only ladies forbidden" for golf,
"constable on patrol" for cop, etc. I've even heard people claim rap derives
from "rhythm and poetry". But basically they're all bunk, apart from words of
quite recent coinage.

(I might add that tons of false etymologies without acronyms float around as
well - "mind your Ps and Qs" being related to pints and quarts, stuff like
that. Morris used to blame tour guides as being the worst culprits of keeping
such things alive.)

