Editing Jinx

{{Short description|Curse attracting bad luck in superstition and folklore}}
{{wiktionary|jinx}}
{{Other uses}}
A '''jinx''' (also '''jynx'''), in popular [[superstition]] and [[folklore]], is a curse or the attribute of attracting bad or negative luck.

Examples of "jinxing" in the 21st-century press include the suggestion a ship might be "jinxed". The connection was made with two cruise liners, the [[MS Queen Victoria|MS ''Queen Victoria'']] and the ''[[Emerald Princess]]'', after misfortunes.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1955467/Jinxed-ship-hit-again.html|title=Queen Victoria liner: Jinxed ship hit again|first=Caroline Gammell and Malcolm|last=Moore|date=15 May 2008|access-date=1 November 2017|via=telegraph.co.uk}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/324243/'it's-a-pretty-horrific-thing-to-happen-on-a-holiday-cruise'|title='It's a pretty horrific thing to happen on a holiday cruise'|date=10 February 2017|access-date=1 November 2017}}</ref> In the 20th century, the Australian aircraft carrier [[HMAS Melbourne (R21)|HMAS ''Melbourne'']] was sometimes said to be jinxed, having twice struck a friendly ship, with considerable loss of life.

== Etymology ==
The ''Online Etymology Dictionary'' states that "jynx", meaning a charm or spell, was in usage in English as early as the 1690s.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=jynx|title=jynx – Search Online Etymology Dictionary|website=etymonline.com|access-date=1 November 2017}}</ref> The same source states that "jinx", with that specific spelling, is first attested in [[American English]] in 1911. Jynx/jinx is traced to the 17th-century word ''jyng'', meaning "a spell", and ultimately to the Latin word ''iynx'', also spelled ''jynx'', as 'j' and 'i' are the same letter in Latin.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=jinx&searchmode=none |title=Online Etymology Dictionary: Jinx |publisher=Etymonline |access-date=2010-10-11}}</ref> The Latin ''iynx'' came from the Greek name of the [[wryneck]] bird, ''iunx'', associated with sorcery; not only was the bird used in the casting of spells and in [[divination]], but the Ancient Romans and Greeks traced the bird's mythological origins to a sorceress named [[Iynx]], who was transformed into this bird to punish her for a spell cast on the god [[Zeus]].

==History==
A ''"Mr Jinx"'' appeared in ''Ballou's monthly magazine'' – Volume 6, page 276, in 1857.{{Citation needed|date=November 2024}}

[[Barry Popik]] of the [[American Dialect Society]] suggests that the word should be traced back to an American folksong called ''Captain Jinks of the Horse Marines'' written by William Lingard in 1868.{{Citation needed|date=November 2024}}

In 1887, the character Jinks Hoodoo, described as ''"a curse to everybody, including himself"'' appeared in the musical comedy ''Little Puck'', and the name was quickly picked up by the press.<ref name=":0">{{cite web|url=http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-jin1.htm |title=Jinx |publisher=World Wide Words |date=2011-01-15 |access-date=2017-02-11}}</ref>

==In sports==
One of the uses of the word "jinx" has been in the context of [[baseball]]; in the short story ''The Jinx'' (1910) – later collected in the book ''The Jinx: Stories of the Diamond'' (1911) – [[Allen Sangree]] wrote:

<blockquote>By th' bones of Mike Kelly, I'll do it! Yes, sir, I'll hoodoo th' whole darned club, I will. I'll put a jinx on 'em or my name ain't Dasher, an' that goes!</blockquote>

And again

{{quote|But the ball players instantly knew the truth. "A jinx, a jinx," they whispered along the bench. "Cross-eyed girl sittin' over there back o' third. See her ? She's got Th' Dasher. Holy smoke, look at them eyes!"

Like the discreet and experienced manager he was, McNabb did not chasten his men in this hour of peril. He treated the matter just as seriously as they, condoling with The Dasher, bracing up the Yeggman, execrating the jinx and summoning all his occult strategy to outwit it.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/jinxstoriesdiam00sanggoog |title=The jinx: stories of the diamond |via=[[Internet Archive]] |year=1911 |publisher=G.W. Dillingham Company |access-date=2010-10-11}}</ref>}}

And later referenced in ''Pitching at a Pinch'' (1912), [[Christy Mathewson]]<ref name=":0" /> explained that "a jinx is something which brings bad luck to a ball player." Baseball's most common "jinx" belief is that talking about a pitcher's ongoing no-hitter will cause it to be ended. See also [[Curse of the Bambino]].

==See also==
*[[Curse (disambiguation)]]
*[[Hex (disambiguation)]]
*[[Jinks (disambiguation)]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Superstitions}}

[[Category:Luck]]
[[Category:Curses]]