<P> As with many words that began in slang , there is no definitive etymology for jazz . However , the similarity in meaning of the earliest jazz citations to jasm , a now - obsolete slang term meaning spirit , energy , vigor and dated to 1860 in the Historical Dictionary of American Slang , suggests that jasm should be considered the leading candidate for the source of jazz . A link between the two words is particularly supported by the Daily Californian 's February 18 , 1916 , article , which used the spelling jaz - m , although the context and other articles in the same newspaper from this period show that jazz was intended . </P>
<P> As with many words that began in slang , there is no definitive etymology for jazz . However , the similarity in meaning of the earliest jazz citations to jasm , a now - obsolete slang term meaning spirit , energy , vigor and dated to 1860 in the Historical Dictionary of American Slang , suggests that jasm should be considered the leading candidate for the source of jazz . A link between the two words is particularly supported by the Daily Californian 's February 18 , 1916 , article , which used the spelling jaz - m , although the context and other articles in the same newspaper from this period show that jazz was intended . </P>
the word jazz may have come from a slang word jasm which meant
the word jazz may have come from a slang word jasm which meant
spirit energy vigor
spirit energy vigor