etymology - Origin of the meaning of joe


I knew that Joe was used to mean the average man, and I discovered that joe is used to mean also coffee.



  • What is the origin of such meanings?

  • When it is used to mean the average man, should I understand that Joe is/was the most common name?



Answer



Michael Quinion at World Wide Words claims that the use of joe for coffee first appeared in print in 1930. He agrees it's of unknown origin, but outlines two of the more prevalent theories before concluding it's most likely a military-slang modification of other j-words for coffee:



It is significant that an early example appears in 1931 in the Reserve Officer’s Manual by a man named Erdman: “Jamoke, Java, Joe. Coffee. Derived from the words Java and Mocha, where originally the best coffee came from”.



The earliest print reference I could find was from Eugene O'Brien's 1937 naval novel He Swung and He Missed:


http://books.google.com/books?id=FxJFAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA134&img=1&pgis=1&dq=cup+of+joe&sig=ACfU3U3QdkvEzLgmq28w7veNWkOkyb8gSQ&edge=0


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