Where Did 'Jazz,' the Word, Come From? (2018) • Hacker News Board

Re: Where Did 'Jazz,' the Word, Come From? (2018)

#21

Post by id » Thu, Aug 15, 2019, 1:11 PM UTC

crazygringo wrote: post #20

> 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…

"enthusiasm" is another one

Re: Where Did 'Jazz,' the Word, Come From? (2018)

#22

Post by Sharlin » Thu, Aug 15, 2019, 1:12 PM UTC

crazygringo wrote: post #20

> 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…

Those -asm words all have Greek origins (orgasmos, khasma, phantasma, etc. The words jasm and jism appear to be specific to US English; perhaps originating from a creole language?

Re: Where Did 'Jazz,' the Word, Come From? (2018)

#23

Post by Sharlin » Thu, Aug 15, 2019, 1:22 PM UTC

id wrote: post #21

crazygringo wrote: post #20

> 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…

"enthusiasm" is another one

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".