Dixie

Dixie, also known as Dixieland or Dixie's Land, is a nickname for all or part of the Southern United States. While there is no official definition of this region (and the included areas have shifted over the years), or the extent of the area it covers, most definitions include the U.S. states below the Mason–Dixon line that seceded and comprised the Confederate States of America, almost always including the Deep South.^[1] The term became popularized throughout the United States by songs that nostalgically referred to the American South.

For the 19th-century song, see Dixie (song). For the cultural and geographic subregion of the southern United States, see Deep South. For other uses, see Dixie (disambiguation) and Dixieland (disambiguation).

Dixie may be derived from , one of the surveyors of the Mason–Dixon line, which defined the border between Maryland and Pennsylvania, separating free and slave states subsequent to the Missouri Compromise.^[10] Jonathan Lighter, the editor of the Historical Dictionary of American Slang, connects the terms Mason–Dixon line and Dixie via a children's game played in nineteenth century New York City.^[11]

Jeremiah Dixon

Dixie may have originally referred to currency issued first by the Citizens State Bank in the of New Orleans and then by other banks in Louisiana.^[12] These banks issued ten-dollar notes^[13] labeled dix (pronounced [dis]), French for 'ten', on the reverse side. The notes were known as Dixies by Southerners, and the area around New Orleans and the French-speaking parts of Louisiana came to be known as Dixieland.^[1] Eventually, usage of the term broadened to refer to the Southern states in general.

French Quarter

Another suggestion is that Dixie preserves the name of Johan Dixie (sometimes spelled Dixy), a slave owner on . According to a story recounted in Word Myths: Debunking Linguistic Urban Legends (2008), Dixie's slaves were later sold in the South, where they spoke of better treatment while working on Dixie's land. There is no evidence that this story is true.^[14]^[15]

Manhattan Island

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the origin of this nickname remains obscure. The most common theories, according to A Dictionary of Americanisms on Historical Principles (1951) by Mitford M. Mathews include the following:

Bible Belt

Deep South

"Dixie" (song)

Dixie (Utah)

a nickname for a portion of the southern United States that sees frequent tornadoes

Dixie Alley

Dixiecrat

Removal of Confederate monuments and memorials

Reed, John Shelton (with J. Kohl and C. Hanchette) (1990). The Shrinking South and the Dissolution of Dixie. Social Forces. pp. 69, 221–233.

Sacks, Howard L.; Rose, Judith (1993). Way Up North In Dixie. Smithsonian Institution Press.

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