What is This Reggae? Who Came Up with that Silly Word?
Posted by | Posted in Music and Selectas | Posted on 04-09-2008 | Email This Post
Do you ever wonder where certain words come from? Well in Jamaican Slang and Jamaican Patois, I am always asking that question. I mean there are so many words that have a little or unknown origin. Some words of the words that come to mind are pickney or nyam. In fact, someone asked me the origin of the word “bumboclat“…yikes, you can send me an e-mail if you want to know what a bumboclat is as opposed to what it means.
I was always interested in knowing where the word reggae came from. After doing some research, I found a variety of answers on the origin of this word we live by and love. The article is more focused on history as opposed to Jamaican Slang, so check it out…yuh dun noh.
The origin of the word reggae was the 1968 Pyramid single by Toots and the Maytals “Do the Reggay” (sic). Other possibilities as to the origin of the word include Regga, the name of a Bantu speaking tribe on Lake Tanganyika and a corruption of “streggae,” which is Kingston street slang for prostitute. According to Bob Marley, the word is Spanish in origin, meaning “the king’s music” but according to veteran session musicians the word is a description of the beat itself. Hux Brown of the Skatalites and lead guitarist on Paul Simon’s 1972 hit “Mother and Child Reunion” says that it is “just a fun, joke kinda word that means ragged rhythm and the body feeling.”
There you have it, a wide view on the origin of reggae. This is good to know , but really all you need to do is keep listening to reggae. Irie.
