"If you'll take thunder and lightening, and a steamboat and a buzz-saw, and mix 'em up, and put 'em into a woman, that's jasm."

Wrote J.G. Holland in "Miss Gilbert's Career," published in 1860, the oldest historical use of the U.S. slang word "jasm," which means "Energy, spirit, ‘pep,'" according to the Oxford English Dictionary (which, unfortunately, I can't link to). I clicked on "jasm," because I was reading about the origin of the word "jazz," for an earlier post, where I noted that I had believed that the word "jazz" originally referred to sexual intercourse. That chronology is unlikely, according to the OED, and in fact, the word "jazz" first appeared in baseball.

But this "jasm" definition gives the etymology: "Apparently a variant of jism." Now, come on. That has to be sexual. But jism originally meant "energy, strength," going back to 1842:

1842   Spirit of Times 29 Oct. 409/3   At the drawgate Spicer tried it on again, but his horse was knocked up—‘the gism’ and the starch was effectively taken out of him by the long and desperate struggles he had been obliged to maintain.

1886   Harper's Mag. Sept. 579/2   The most shif'less creeter I ever see. Willin', but hain't no more jas'm than a dead corn-stalk.

But the second meaning is "semen, sperm," as old as 1899 ("Often regarded as a taboo-word"):

1899   B. W. Green Word-bk. Virginia Folk-speech 85   Chism, chissum, seminal fluid.

If it's a taboo word, with that meaning, it would be less likely to appear in print. In fact, the OED doesn't have another example of the semen meaning until 1959 when — speaking of taboo — William S. Burroughs had the nerve to write: "The Moslems must have blood and jissom... See, see where Christ's blood streams in the spermament."

Anyway, speaking of jasm/jism, "spunk" is a similar word. It could be used to describe a Mary-Tyler-Moore-style woman, referring to "Spirit, mettle; courage, pluck," which the OED traces back to 1773 in Oliver Goldsmith's  "She Stoops to Conquer." ("The 'Squire has got spunk in him.")  And it can mean "Seminal fluid," going back to 1890's "My Secret Life." ("It seemed to me scarcely possible, that the sweet, well dressed, smooth-spoken ladies..could let men put the spunk up their cunts.")

The OED informs us that this use of "spunk" is "coarse slang," and adds, enticingly, "For the sense development, compare the obs. slang mettle, which had the same meaning.." Mettle!

"Mettle" goes way back, meaning "A person's character, disposition, or temperament; the ‘stuff’ of which one is made, regarded as an indication of one's character" or "A person's spirit; courage, strength of character; vigour, spiritedness, vivacity." Shakespeare used "mettle" in "Twelfth Night": "I am one, that had rather go with sir Priest, then sir knight: I care not who knowes so much of my mettle." But when did the semen meaning kick in? Was Shakespeare making a jism joke? Ah, but in fact, the OED has led me into a blind alley, because no semen meaning for "mettle" even appears.

There's also the word "jizz," which the OED defines only as "The characteristic impression given by an animal or plant," as in:

1922   T. A. Coward Bird Haunts & Nature Memories 141   A West Coast Irishman was familiar with the wild creatures which dwelt on or visited his rocks and shores; at a glance he could name them, usually correctly, but if asked how he knew them would reply ‘By their “jizz”.’ What is jizz?..We have not coined it, but how wide its use in Ireland is we cannot say... Jizz may be applied to or possessed by any animate and some inanimate objects, yet we cannot clearly define it. A single character may supply it, or it may be the combination of many....
1950   Brit. Birds XLIII. 29   Miss Quick obviously looks at her birds more than once and does so with an artist's eye for those peculiarities of shape, outline and stance which give a species its ‘jizz’....
1966   D. McClintock Compan. Flowers ix. 117,   I know only too well the problem of trying to express what there is in a plant that enables me, or you, to tell it from another at sight. The word I use for these intangible characteristics, that defy being put into words, is jizz.

A useful word, and yet you can't use it like that in the United States.

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In case you want to read more, here's the William S. Burroughs's book quoted above, "Naked Lunch." That's "The Restored Text," which, oddly enough, is #25 on Amazon's list "Books > Humor & Entertainment > Humor > Self-Help & Psychology." What?! Somehow "Naked Lunch" makes it onto a list that includes Mitch Albom's "The Five People You Meet in Heaven" and "He's Just Not That Into You: The No-Excuses Truth to Understanding Guys." Well, I'm interested in understanding guys. But I'm only buying "Naked Lunch." As long as I'm ending with a few Amazon links, though, and the subject of William S. Burroughs has come up, let me recommend an audio recording I've played 100s of times: "Dead City Radio."