Dixie - Definition


Dixie - Definition

Dixie is a nickname for the Southern region of the United States.

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DixiesLandPostcard.jpg

"DIXIE'S LAND", 1904 postcard

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the origins of the nickname remain obscure. According to A Dictionary of Americanisms on Historical Principles (1951), by Mitford M. Mathews, three theories most commonly attempt to explain the term:

The word preserves the name of a kind slave-owner on Manhattan Island, a Mr. Dixy. His rule was so kindly that "Dixy's Land" became famed far and wide as an Elysium abounding in material comforts.
Ten dollar notes issued by the Citizens Bank of Louisiana before the Civil War bore the French 'dix', ten, on the reverse side and were consequently known as 'dixes' or 'dixies'. Hence Louisiana and eventually the South in general came to be known as the land of 'dixies' or 'dixies land'.
"Dixie" derives somehow from Jeremiah Dixon of the Mason-Dixon line defining the boundary between Maryland and Pennsylvania (the northern boundary of Dixie).

Another theory of the origin of the word 'dixie' is that it was invented in the years fallowing the 1803 Louisiana Purchase by the United States from France. The money system needed to be organised. One of the banks in New Orleans issued ten dollar bill notes in both languages used at the time in Louisiana: English and French (one side for each one). One the French side was the word dix, ten in French. These notes ended up to be calles a dix, with dixies for more the one. The name was then given to the city itself, then to the region.

Contents

1 Jazz

2 NATO phonetic alphabet

3 "Dixie's Land"

4 See also

Jazz

An early style of jazz music is often known as Dixieland.

NATO phonetic alphabet

In airports, "Dixie" is also sometimes used in the NATO phonetic alphabet in place of "Delta" to avoid confusion with Delta Air Lines.

"Dixie's Land"

An Ohio minstrel show composer, Daniel Decatur Emmett, wrote the song called "Dixie's Land", first published by Phillip Werlein in New Orleans in 1859. The tune popularly became known simply as "Dixie". Many people identify the lyrics of the song with the iconography and ideology of the Old South. Some have considered it an unofficial "national anthem" of the South. It is often regarded as the southern counterpart to "The Battle Hymn of the Republic".

The chorus and first verse are still well-known in much of the U.S. South. One very seldom hears the additional verses.

Sheet music, page 1

Sheet music, page 2

Lyrics:

I wish I was in the land of cotton,

Old times there are not forgotten;