The weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1878-1881, 1881-04-19
BLIZZARD.

Every one who has lived IN the northwest
is familiar with its bllzzards, but the deriva-
ton of the word is not so well known. TIE
following taken from the "Nation," of = re-
cent date, shows that the word is not newly
coined, but has been used elsewhere Tor
quite a number of years. The first commu-
n~ication Is from a gentlemen from Baltimore,
who writes:
"The statement made by you on page 1S4,
that the word blizzard was in use over fifty
years ago IN a sense different from that now
sought to be affixed to the word, leads me to
suppose that Its etymology may be traced by
some one having the leisure. In this locality
| and the adjoining counties, it is a surname of
"A numerous family, and. our land records will
show, think, numerous transfers to and
from the name, probably dating back oyer a
century. In a sketch of one of the name,
born in 1882, III the Biographical Cyclops-
dia of Marylcnd,' it Is stated thai the father
was born in this locality in 1901, and that the
| grandfather, Isaiah blizzard, who lived here
long before that time, was of French Hugue-
hvp uCsSCuts
The next is from New Bloomfield, Perry
county, Pennsylvania, and confirms in part
our Maine correspondent of last week:
81 agree with you that the ctymology Of the
word blizzard must be. sought elsewhere
than in the patois of the French-C Canadian
voyageurs. There has been an extensive use
of the word in Pennsylvania for many years,
as witness the following: (l) A drink of any
intoxicant, generally applied to whisky.
Synonymous with the slang "a slug "a smile,
"a bgger,' "a bumper Example: "Let's
take a blizzard! The word has been used in
this sense for upwards Of sixty years. (2>
Let it be lone. A comparison phrase with
Let her rip Let her fy.'. Example A
creditor threatens to bring suit against a
debtor who believes he has a defence for the
claim, and replies, Let her blizzard; | owe
you nothing Used for upwards of thirty
years, certainly. (3) To shoot generally APP
piled to a shotgun. Example Il raised my
gun and let blizzard Used for like period
as last. az A sudden or unexpected storm.
This use was in existence as early as 1886 in
this part of the state. Charcoal-burners,
watching their pits, would fear a blizzard.
The word in a., (2) and (3) sense is still IN
use. In the (4) it has died out for many
years. 1t was introduced here with charcoal
furnaces about the date above mentioned"
IS T. H." writes from Iowa City;
some of our old settlers tells Inc that in
The winter OF 1S39-4O he drove from iowa
City to Dubuque. Eighteen miles Of the
road lay due north. The wind was N. W.,
driving the snow in their faces. He could
not see the horses. He held with oulstrcched
hands a buffalo robe so as to make a screen
to shield the face of the driver. He says that
storm was called a sblizzard' at that time AS
were similar storms"
And rs. NJ. c." from KeOkuk, Iowa:
"For nearly forty years l have heard the
word 'blizzard' quite commonly used in this
part Of the west, as by Crocket in your note
in No. $40. 1t has never meant "a poser in
this western use, as defined by Bartlett,
but some such tremendous discharge as
the old fashioned American musket made. l
do not know; but l believe the word meant in
the west, a discharge by the enormous old
Revolutionary and 'lSl2' musket, and in
time came to be applied to our sweeping ives
tern storms Of mingled now and hail, with
the accompanying drying wind"