"The term “hillbilly,” an American nickname for mountain folk in Appalachia which has come to be a term of derision, originated in Ulster, Scotland and dates back to the victory of William, Prince of Orange, over King James II of England in 1690. Scottish settlers in the hill-country of Appalachia brought their traditional music with them to the new world, and many of their songs and ballads dealt with William. Supporters of King William were known as “Orangemen” and “Billy Boys,” and their American counterparts were soon referred to as “hillbillies.”"
I've seen that definition a lot in the press, but I've never seen it proven, studied, or backed with any kind of documentation to prove its correctness. So, I looked it up again. This time, even Wiki has it right. This story has never been proven. It's pure conjecture: a story that makes sense, but is unfounded.
The whole thing never rang true for me. It seems like the one word usage (in Scotland) and the other word usage (in Appalachia) were too far removed from each other without having some kind of lore about it we would have heard from our elders about our ancestors. Lore we might have even read about in school.
Instead, the only definition that's been proven is Harkins's find of the first written occurrence of the word in a 1900 New York Journal article which defined it as:
"[A] Hill-Billie is a free and untrammeled white citizen of Alabama, who lives in the hills, has no means to speak of, dresses as he can, talks as he pleases, drinks whiskey when he gets it, and fires off his revolver as the fancy takes him."
Sure, it says Alabama right in there, so it doesn't fit as well for a West Virginia hillbilly story, but that's the same definition we've lived just in a different place. History clearly shows that that definition eventually spread to mean anyone living in the Ozarks or Appalachian. J.W. Williamson goes on to define it even broader to mean anyone who lives on the poor edges of society. That's how come Earl and the folks in Raising Arizona seem so doggone hillbilly when they live in places that aren't associated with hillbillies at all.
Really, every time I see that other definition (you know, that one that says we have this Scots heritage that we know nothing of), it makes my turdeye squinch into the painful pucker of rage. Please, writers of Appalachia, stop making my butt hurt that way. If you want to mention that Scotland story, please label it as a story that hasn't been proven.
For some reason, I smell Senator Jim Webb all over that definition.
8 comments:
Buzzard -- I don't see it a far stretch from the Alabama story to West Virginia, since the Appalachians run through them both.
However, I read that "hillbilly" was a term for "mountain friend" but I can't remember if it was a Celt, Scot, or Irish word. We know the Scots and Irish heritage is strong in WV, so those stories probably have a thread of truth in them.
I keep thinking I read the "mountain friend" thing in Otis Rice's WV book. I have a copy, but couldn't find the passage quickly.
Unfortunately, it is still acceptible to poke fun at the mountain culture, unlike that of most of the others.
One definition does not contradict the other. A friend of mine once found a connection with the word "hillbilly" and native Welsh terminology.
Like the word "redneck" we'll probably never know for sure it's true origins.
Too bad you are so resentful toward the sagacious senator from Virginia. What's that about, some sort of twisted jealousy?
SagaciousHillbilly
Muze, I don't really think it's a stretch from Alabama to West Virginia at all. I was being cantankerous. Interesting connection between "hillbilly" and "mountain friend," but I've looked in all of the word etymology sources I have and can't find it listed anywhere either. I hate hate hate it when I read something interesting in a book and then can't find it again. It's maddening, isn't it?
Part of my problem with the connections back to Scotland definition for hillbilly is that it's so poorly researched Ulster is often cited (as Graffiti did) as a county in Scotland. It's a county in Ireland where Scots were transplanted to try to make the Northern part of Ireland have more allegiance to the British by transplanting loyalists there. There's never any kind of source information given with that definition either. No examples of the word hillbilly in use at all until 1900, which is a long way away from 1690 by anyone's standards. Sometimes, the tune for "Marching to Georgia" being the same tune as one of the Orangemen's marching songs is cited as the connection, but that's a tenuous connection at best because Civil War songs commonly used folk tunes for their melody, sort of like Weird Al using "Beat It" to make "Eat It."
Yes, there is a strong history of Appalachians have Scots, Irish, and English ancestors, but that's often used to explain away cultural differences without researching them. There are traces of many cultures in ours.
Saggy, I'll never forgive him for making the argument that fighting is in hillbilly DNA.
Sounds like a Hobbit to me.
I didn't know I was a Hillbilly until I moved to Ohio. The Scot-Irish community in Preston County and my Father never commented about Hillbilly being Celtic. I know when my family didn't pay the scot and lot, they threw us out of the country, according to family legend.
I looked hillbilly up in the OED once, but I forget what they wrote about it. I'll have to go look again, because they had about a half dozen origins, none of them going back to Ireland.
Anne, I have access to the OED through school. I looked up both "hillbilly" and "redneck". Both are attributed to US sources with US usages (none of the historic hillbillies and rednecks originated in the British Isles lore). For hillbilly, the 1900 passage I cited is still the oldest verified use. For redneck, it's an 1830 passage.
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