Trivia 12-14-16 Dixie

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Everyone knows that the most popular war song of the Confederacy Dixie was written by a Northerner, Daniel Decatur Emmett. The meaning of the word "Dixie" it still unsettled. Many claim it refers to the region south of the Mason-Dixon Line - what is the other reference?

credit: @DBF
 
  1. The word "Dixie" refers to currency issued first by the Citizens State Bank (located in the French Quarter of New Orleans) and then by other banks in Louisiana.[6] These banks issued ten-dollar notes,[7] labeled "Dix", French for "ten", on the reverse side. The notes were known as "Dixies" by English-speaking southerners, and the area around New Orleans and the French-speaking parts of Louisiana came to be known as "Dixieland". Eventually, usage of the term broadened to refer to the Southern states in general.
  2. The word preserves the name of a "Mr. Dixy", a slave owner on Manhattan Island, where slavery was legal until 1827 (see History of slavery in New York). His rule was so kind that "Dixy's Land" became famed far and wide as an elysium abounding in material comforts.
 
One explanation is that "Dixie" came from a Southern children's game. A second explanation claims that "Dixie" referenced the pre-war currency of Louisiana that had the French word "Dix," the word for "ten"on some of its $10 notes, therefore Louisiana was known as the "Land of Dixies."

[Begin Quote]The strongest contending explanation is that it comes from a children's game. The 28 December 1844 issue of the magazine The New World includes this line:

Doesn't Old Fezziwig figure here like some planet that, bent upon a spree, joslled [sic] against all other planets in his system, crossing and recrossing their orbits, playing, "Dixey's Land," in the region of space.

The first detailed description of this game appears in 1861, but it is clear that the game has been influenced and altered by the war. From the San Francisco Daily Evening Bulletin of 39 July 1861:

A boy and girl would establish themselves as Dixie and Dixie's wife. Imaginary lines would form the boundaries on the North and South, and the opposite party would attempt crossing the sacred domain, shouting as they entered upon it, 'I am on Dixie's land, and Dixie isn't home.' Soon, to their surprise, Dixie and his wife would rush to capture them, and as their position was in the centre they would soon succeed. As each one was caught he aided Dixie, and soon the whole opposing force was brought within the fold to share whatever had been united by them as the reward of entering Dixie's Land.[End Quote]

[Begin Quote]The second that is often given is that Dixie is a reference to the French word dix, ten, that appeared on ten-dollar banknotes issued by the Citizen's Bank of Louisiana before the Civil War. The problem with this explanation is that no slang usage of dix or dixie, referring to banknotes, has been found.[End Quote]
Woodorigins.org
 
Another theory is Dixieland refers to John Dixie's Farm located on Long Island New York.


Several theories exist regarding the origin of the term "Dixie". According to Robert LeRoy Ripley (founder and originator of "Ripley's Believe It or Not"), Dixie has nothing to do with the south. "Dixieland" was originally located on a farm in Long Island, New York. This farm was owned by a man named John Dixie. He befriended so many slaves before the Civil War, his place, "Dixie's Land," became a sort of a paradise to them.

James H. Street, in his book, "Look Away! A Dixie Notebook," as condensed in the August 1937 Readers Digest, page 45, says that "Johaan Dixie" a Haarlem (Manhattan Island) farmer and slave owner, upon deciding that his slaves were not profitable because they were necessarily idle during the New York winter, sent them to Charleston, where they were sold. Subsequently, the slaves were busy constantly, and, longing for the less strenuous life on the Haarlem farm, would chant, "I sho' wish we was back on Dixie's lan'. Lawdy Lawd. If we wuz all back on Dixie's lan'." Dan Emmett had toured the south, and had heard the Dixie ditty. Dixie did not catch on when Emmett introduced it in New Orleans in the late 50s, but a few years later at the secession convention in Montgomery Alabama the bandmaster was inspired to adapt Dixie, stepped up the tempo, and it became an instant success, and the anthem of the South.

Interestingly, another theory has the song named after the term, "Dix Notes," which referred to ten dollar bills in Louisiana.

Source- Wikipedia

More info on John Dixie.

Yet others have argued that "Dixie Land" was a paradise-like plantation owned by a generous Manhattan slave-owner named "Mr. Dix" (or in some places "Mr. Dixy" or "Mr. Dixie") in the early part of the century, before slavery became illegal in New York in 1827. Allegedly rumors circulated around that time among slaves that he was a master so kind that his own slaves refused to leave or run away. Hence "Dixie Land" grew to be known as a place of refuge and happiness for slaves somewhere in the North.
 
This question is much more difficult than I have thought! I think it is misleading to ask "what IS the other reference", but "what ARE the other references".

My first impulse and my final answer if I have to choose one single option, is that it comes from a type of currency, issued by a Louisiana bank (Citizen Bank of Louisiana). That currency had the French word "dix" (= ten) printed on the bills, therefore the people who used that currency are the "Dixies" and the place where they live is "Dixie Land". But when I double checked, I found that this theory is probably wrong (see below). Nevertheless I think it is the answer required for this question. But having read all the other explanations, I think the children's game being the origin of the term "Dixieland" is the best supported theory.

I hope that @hoosier will give credit to all who answer one of the theories listed on that web page ...

This name for the American South first appears in 1859 in the lyrics of a minstrel song. The etymology is uncertain, but it is most likely a reference to the Mason-Dixon Line, the border between Pennsylvania and Maryland delimited by those eponymous surveyors. [...]
But while this is the most likely explanation, it is not the only possibility.
The strongest contending explanation is that it comes from a children's game. The 28 December 1844 issue of the magazine The New World includes this line:
Doesn't Old Fezziwig figure here like some planet that, bent upon a spree, joslled [sic] against all other planets in his system, crossing and recrossing their orbits, playing, "Dixey's Land," in the region of space.
The first detailed description of this game appears in 1861, but it is clear that the game has been influenced and altered by the war. From the San Francisco Daily Evening Bulletin of 39 July 1861:
A boy and girl would establish themselves as Dixie and Dixie's wife. Imaginary lines would form the boundaries on the North and South, and the opposite party would attempt crossing the sacred domain, shouting as they entered upon it, 'I am on Dixie's land, and Dixie isn't home.' Soon, to their surprise, Dixie and his wife would rush to capture them, and as their position was in the centre they would soon succeed. As each one was caught he aided Dixie, and soon the whole opposing force was brought within the fold to share whatever had been united by them as the reward of entering Dixie's Land.
Another description of the game is given in William Wells Newell's 1883 Games and Songs of American Children:
A boundary line marks out "Tom Tidler's Ground," […] This Eldorado has many different local names—Van Diemen's land in Connecticut; Dixie's Land in New York, an expression which antedates the war.
There are other explanations that are sometimes given, but these have no evidence to support them. Two of the more common are as follows.
One is that the word comes from a minstrel performer named Dixey who performed in Philadelphia, and presumably elsewhere, as early as 1856. It seems likely that Emmett would have known the man and the Dixie in Emmett's song may be this minstrel, but if so, Emmet makes no mention of it.6
The second that is often given is that Dixie is a reference to the French word dix, ten, that appeared on ten-dollar banknotes issued by the Citizen's Bank of Louisiana before the Civil War. The problem with this explanation is that no slang usage of dix or dixie, referring to banknotes, has been found.

http://www.wordorigins.org/index.php/site/comments/dixie/


Another source says, there are even four different theories about the origin of the word Dixie:

There are 4 theories:
1.) A Louisiana based currency, of which the 'ten' bill was named for the french 'dix.' They were called 'dixies' by the local population, and the area around Louisiana became known as 'dixieland.'
2.) A certain Mr. Dixy of Manhattan, who owned enough slaves for his name to become synonymous with slavery. There doesn't seem to be much supporting evidence here, except for a 1861 publication.
3.) A natural derivation from 'Mason-Dixon Line,' which, surveyed in 1767 by Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon, separates the north from the south.
4.) A game of tag played in New York City streets involving a line of demarcation and a lot of shouting, which was called 'dixie.'
Whatever the case, the term apparently became most popular after the song "Dixie Land," written by Daniel Decatur Emmett, was adopted by the Confederate army as a sort of de facto anthem.

https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-origin-of-the-term-Dixie-in-reference-to-the-American-South
 
Currency issued by the Citizens State Bank in New Orleans. To wit: $10 notes

The word "Dixie" refers to currency issued first by the Citizens State Bank (located in the French Quarter of New Orleans) and then by other banks in Louisiana.[6] These banks issued ten-dollar notes,[7] labeled "Dix", French for "ten", on the reverse side. The notes were known as "Dixies" by English-speaking southerners, and the area around New Orleans and the French-speaking parts of Louisiana came to be known as "Dixieland". Eventually, usage of the term broadened to refer to the Southern states in general.

DixBankNote.jpg
 
  1. The word "Dixie" refers to currency issued first by the Citizens State Bank (located in the French Quarter of New Orleans) and then by other banks in Louisiana. These banks issued ten-dollar notes, labeled "Dix", French for "ten", on the reverse side. The notes were known as "Dixies" by English-speaking southerners, and the area around New Orleans and the French-speaking parts of Louisiana came to be known as "Dixieland". Eventually, usage of the term broadened to refer to the Southern states in general.
  2. The word preserves the name of a "Mr. Dixy", a slave owner on Manhattan Island, where slavery was legal until 1827 .His rule was so kind that "Dixy's Land" became famed far and wide as an elysium abounding in material comforts.
  3. "Dixie" derives from Jeremiah Dixon, a surveyor of the Mason–Dixon line which defined the border between Maryland and Pennsylvania, and, for the most part, free and slave states. (Delaware, a Union border state, and slave state up to the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment, lay outside the "Dixie" side of the survey line.)
 
Here is one story I heard. Back when banks issued their own currency notes there was a New Orleans bank that issued a 10 dollar note that was widely preferred and used in that part of the country. The French word for 10 is Dix so people started calling this region " Dixie Land " because of the profusion of these notes. The phrase " I wish I was in Dixie" was said to be coined by northern circus people who would long for the warm southern climate while performing in the north during the harsh winter months. When Dan Emmett wrote "Dixie" he wrote it for a minstrel show where whites would put on blackface and perform in a manner believed typical of African slaves. Slaves who many people believed loved being a slave on a plantation! Hence slaves longing for good old Dixie when taken some where else during their travels.. It soon became a case of musical abduction by the Confederates due to such phrases as " In Dixie land I'll make my stand to live and die in Dixie " and the rest is history. Many northerners condemned Dan Emmett as a rebel but the song was reportedly written two years before the war started and Emmett's own father worked on the underground railroad during the war helping escaping slaves reach their freedom. So it would seem this accusation was due to misplaced apathy for the south in general and all things southern. Another interesting note about Dan Emmett was that he also wrote the song " Turkey in the straw ".

The other story I heard for the name was due to the survey of Jeremiah Dixon and Charles Mason in 1773 establishing the border between Pennsylvania and Virginia aka "the Mason -Dixon line." Since Pennsylvania abolished slavery this line became the dissecting boundary between north and south. Which ever is true is still in dispute today but I prefer the first one due to it's close proximity to the start of the war and because the song "Dixie" was more vivid in the memory of the people than Jeremiah Dixon and Charles Mason. Besides, why would the people only remember Dixon and forget all about poor old Charles Mason?

Edit - Welcome to the trivia game, JoeWheeler.

Both of your answers are supported by sources given by other players, so you will get credit for a correct response.

Hope you'll come back and play again, but a word of advice - if the question only asks for one answer, try to limit yourself to one answer unless you are certain that more than one answer is correct - and if you are certain that more than one answer is correct, it's a good idea to include links to sources supporting all of your answers.

Hoosier
 
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A) According to this source there are 3 possible explanations:

http://wesclark.com/jw/dixie_yankee.html
"
(1) Before the Civil War, the Citizens Bank of Louisiana, located in New Orleans, issued ten-dollar notes that bore the Creole/French word dix, ten, on one side. These notes were known as "dixies" and the south came to be known as the "land of dixies."

(2) The term comes from the Dixon in "Mason-Dixon line," the famous pre-Revolutionary War surveyors' line that separated Maryland and Pennsylvania.

(3) It comes from "Dixy's land," Dixy supposedly being a kindly slave owner on Manhattan island, of all places. Dixy's regime was supposedly so enlightened that for slaves his plantation came to symbolize earthly paradise. Sounds ridiculous, but the story was widely told in the years just after the Civil War.

The trouble with all these explanations is that there are no published citations of the word prior to the appearance of Daniel Emmett's song "Dixie" in 1859. One etymologist notes that a minstrel named Dixey performed in Philadelphia in 1856, but that's not much help. For what it's worth, the editors of the American Heritage Dictionary, normally reliable in these matters, come down foursquare on the side of explanation #1, on the basis of what evidence I do not know.

Then you get a few characters like the guy in the journal American Speech who speculates that it comes from dixi, Latin for "I have said [it]." This is allegedly emblematic of the take-no-guff attitude characteristic of the antebellum south. Forgive me if I decline to take sides."

B)
However,
This source claims the following:
http://www.wordorigins.org/index.php/site/comments/dixie/

"The strongest contending explanation is that it comes from a children's game. The 28 December 1844 issue of the magazine The New World includes this line:

Doesn't Old Fezziwig figure here like some planet that, bent upon a spree, joslled [sic] against all other planets in his system, crossing and recrossing their orbits, playing, "Dixey's Land," in the region of space."
 
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