I am currently in a a jazz history class and my teacher said the word of Jazz is very difficult to find where the word truly originated from. I looked on Wikipedia and could find no clear answer. I was wondering if anyone here would have a better idea?
One idea is to find a very good dictionary (e.g. the Oxford English Dictionary) or specialist etymology dictionary. If your school doesn't have a subscription to the OED, hopefully someone here can pull the etymology for you. Meanwhile, here's what's in the Online Etymology Dictionary: http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=jazz
by 1912, American English, first attested in baseball slang; as a type of music, attested from 1913. Probably ultimately from Creole patois jass "strenuous activity," especially "sexual intercourse" but also used of Congo dances, from jasm (1860) "energy, drive," of African origin (compare Mandingo jasi, Temne yas), also the source of slang jism.
If the truth were known about the origin of the word 'Jazz' it would never be mentioned in polite society. ["Étude," Sept. 1924]
All that jazz "et cetera" first recorded 1939.
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