FARMERSBURG, Ind. (WTWO/WAWV) — For many first-time visitors to the state of Indiana, one question arises faster than just about any other.
What actually is a Hoosier?
The dictionary isn’t much help beyond explaining that the term is used to describe people who live in the state of Indiana.
But unlike Ohio whose residents proudly call themselves nuts (Buckeyes), or states like Michigan and Illinois which fashion the name of their state into a term to refer to residents (Michiganders and Illinoisans), Indiana has this strange-sounding H-word to call their residents.
So what exactly is a Hoosier?
It turns out, that the topic is considered a bit of a controversy as multiple government agencies point to numerous theories for how the word came to be, and how it ended up describing residents of Indiana.
According to the Indiana Historical Bureau, while the direct origin of the term is debated, it is known that the term had come into general usage by the 1830s.
“John Finley of Richmond wrote a poem, “The Hoosier’s Nest,” which was used as the “Carrier’s Address” of the Indianapolis Journal, Jan. 1, 1833. It was widely copied throughout the country and even abroad. Finley originally wrote Hoosier as “Hoosher.” Apparently the poet felt that it was sufficiently familiar to be understandable to his readers. A few days later, on January 8, 1833, at the Jackson Day dinner at Indianapolis, John W. Davis offered “The Hoosher State of Indiana” as a toast. And in August, former Indiana governor James B. Ray announced that he intended to publish a newspaper, The Hoosier, at Greencastle, Indiana.”
While those examples mark a time of fairly widespread usage, earlier mentions have been found, with one dating back to a diary reportedly penned in 1827.
An article in a publication called The Cincinnati Republican from 1833 seemed to acknowledge the controversial origin of the term, while speaking glowingly of the residents in general.
Multiple theories of origin
The Historical Bureau lists the following as the more popular theories for the origin of the term;
- A term created as a greeting from settlers in the state when someone would knock on their door.
- “When a visitor hailed a pioneer cabin in Indiana or knocked upon its door, the settler would respond, “Who’s yere?” And from this frequent response Indiana became the “Who’s yere” or Hoosier state. No one ever explained why this was more typical of Indiana than of Illinois or Ohio,” The Historical Bureau writes.
- That rivermen from the state were so successful at defeating adversaries in brawls or “hushing” them that they were referred to as “hushers” which eventually evolved into Hoosiers.
- That there was a contractor with the last name Hoosier who worked on the Louisville and Portland Canal that would only hire laborers from Indiana who came to be called Hoosier’s men and eventually Hoosiers
- Governor Joseph Wright reportedly spread the theory that the term was a modification of a Native American word for corn, “Hoosa”. However, this has been disputed by scholars who said a search of various native vocabularies failed to find any such word.
- And poet James Whitcomb Riley reportedly offered a facetious explanation that has gained in popularity.
- “He claimed that Hoosier originated in the pugnacious habits of our early settlers. They were enthusiastic and vicious fighters who gouged, scratched and bit off noses and ears. This was so common an occurrence that a settler coming into a tavern the morning after a fight and seeing an ear on the floor would touch it with his toe and casually ask, ‘Whose ear?'”
Methodist preacher theory
Meanwhile, a bill introduced in the Indiana House in January of 2023 by Indiana Republican Representative J.D. Prescott seeks to establish a different theory as to the origin of the term while attempting to make “The Hoosier State” Indiana’s official nickname.
The bill added bipartisan co-sponsors before dying in committee.
According to the bill, the term Hoosier came from a Methodist preacher named Harry Hoosier who was reportedly born into slavery in 1750 in Maryland. The bill states that Hoosier was freed from slavery and became a preacher in the 1770s. The illiterate preacher reportedly traveled throughout the region preaching to both black and white audiences and gained a widespread following. The bill says Methodist Church historical records reportedly stated that upon his death in 1806, that Hoosier was “borne to the grave by a great procession of both white and black admirers, who buried him as a hero.”
The preacher’s followers reportedly came to be known as Hoosiers, who would later bring their beliefs and the nickname with them to Indiana in the decades before the region was granted statehood in 1816.
A website dedicated to promoting the preacher theory also offers a page debunking other popular theories as to the origins of the word.
Dunn’s theory
In the 1900s, Indiana historian Jacob Piatt Dunn Jr. attempted further to learn the true origination of the term. Dunn’s work is cited by numerous agencies and websites looking into the origin of Hoosier, including in the previously mentioned page debunking some of the more colorful theories of the term’s origin.
The Indiana Historical Bureau notes that Dunn found that the word Hoosier was used frequently throughout the South in the 19th century to describe woodsmen or rough hill people.
“He traced the word back to “hoozer,” in the Cumberland dialect of England. This derives from the Anglo-Saxon word “hoo” meaning high or hill. In the Cumberland dialect, the word “hoozer” meant anything unusually large, presumably like a hill,” the bureau said.
The term reportedly then came to reference immigrants from Cumberland England who settled in the Cumberland Mountains area of the United States. The idea being that their descendants brought the name with them when they settled in the hills of southern Indiana.
Originating as a pejorative theory
In 2016, an Indiana University student in a column written for the student publication Indiana Daily Student theorized that the term comes from the French words for redness or red-faced and was a pejorative for the states indigenous people.
“Does Hoosier mean redness or red-faced?
It is a possibility, and although the origin of the word is most likely pejorative, modern-day residents of Indiana revindicated the meaning and transformed it to be able to say with pride: I am a Hoosier.”
Conclusion
While the origins and popularization of the term remain in dispute to this day. It is clear that for most residents of Indiana, the term is a point of pride. Especially if you happen to cheer for that crimson and cream-colored team from Bloomington.
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