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Origin and history of jinx

jinx(n.)

1911, American English, originally baseball slang; perhaps ultimately from jyng "a charm, a spell" (17c.), originally "wryneck" (also jynx), a bird used in witchcraft and divination, from Latin iynx "wryneck," from Greek iynx. Jynx was used in English as "a charm or spell" from 1690s.

Most mysterious of all in the psychics of baseball is the "jinx," that peculiar "hoodoo" which affects, at times, a man, at other times a whole team. Let a man begin to think that there is a "jinx" about, and he is done for for the time being. ["Technical World Magazine," 1911]

 The verb is 1912 in American English, from the noun. Related: Jinxed; jinxing. 

also from 1911

Entries linking to jinx

jynx(n.)

"wryneck," 1640s, from Modern Latin jynx (plural jynges), from Latin iynx (see jinx). As "a charm or spell," 1690s.

hoodoo(n.)

1849, a type of religio-magical practice first attested in Louisiana, and also the name of a dance in which the believers participated. Also by 1869 as the magic spell performed by a practitioner, with attendant verbal forms (he was hoodooed, etc.) By 1858 as "one who practices hoodoo." American English, probably an alteration of voodoo. There is also an isolated use as a regional term for a social dance (1869); compare hoedown. Meaning "something that causes or brings bad luck" is attested from 1880 (compare jinx.). By 2002 as a type of non-religious American folk magic.

As the term for a type of rock formation, documented by 1880.

HOODOO REGION OR GOBLIN LAND is the term that has been applied by miners and trappers to a section of country about forty five miles south east of Baronett's Bridge noted for the countless formations so wild and quaint that they were called Hoodoos or Goblins. [Edwin J. Stanley, Rambles in Wonderland or a Trip Through the Great Yellowstone National Park, 1885.]
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    Trends of jinx

    adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/ with a 7-year moving average; ngrams are probably unreliable.

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    hex
    1830, American English, from Pennsylvania German hexe "to practice witchcraft," from German hexen "to hex," related to Hexe "witch," from Middle High German hecse, hexse, from Old High German hagazussa (see hag). Noun meaning "magic spell" is first recorded 1909; earlier it meant
    glamour
    1715, glamer, Scottish, "magic, enchantment" (especially in phrase to cast the glamour), a variant of Scottish gramarye "magic, enchantment, spell," said to be an alteration of English grammar (q.v.) in a specialized use of that word's medieval sense of "any sort of scholarship,
    enchant
    late 14c., literal ("practice sorcery or witchcraft on") and figurative ("delight in a high degree, charm, fascinate"), from Old French enchanter "bewitch, charm, cast a spell" (12c.), from Latin incantare "to enchant, fix a spell upon," from in- "upon, into" (from PIE root *en "
    spell
    early 14c., spellen, "read letter by letter, write or say the letters of;" c. 1400, "form words by means of letters," said in most etymology sources to be from Anglo-French espeller, Old French espelir "to mean, signify; explain, interpret," also "spell out letters, pronounce, re
    charm
    c. 1300, "incantation, magic charm," from Old French charme (12c.) "magic charm, magic spell incantation; song, lamentation," from Latin carmen "song, verse, enchantment, religious formula," from canere "to sing" (from PIE root *kan- "to sing"), with dissimilation of -n- to -r- b
    march
    "to walk with measured steps or a regular tread," either individually or as a body, early 15c., from Old French marcher "to stride, march, walk," originally "to trample, tread underfoot," a word of uncertain origin. Perhaps from Frankish *markon or some other Germanic source rela
    voodoo
    religious witchcraft of Haiti and Southern U.S., ultimately of African origin, 1850, from Louisiana French voudou, from a West African language (such as Ewe and Fon vodu "spirit, demon, deity," also Vandoo, supposedly the name of an African deity, from a language of Dahomey). Com
    diabetes
    medical name of a set of affections characterized by abnormal discharge of urine, 1560s, from medical Latin diabetes, from late Greek diabetes "excessive discharge of urine" (so named by Aretaeus the Cappadocian, physician of Alexandria, 2c.), literally "a passer-through, siphon,
    grammar
    late 14c., "Latin grammar, rules of Latin," from Old French gramaire "grammar; learning," especially Latin and philology, also "(magic) incantation, spells, mumbo-jumbo" (12c., Modern French grammaire), an "irregular semi-popular adoption" [OED, 2nd ed. 1989] of Latin grammatica
    bath
    Old English bæð "an immersing of the body in water, mud, etc.," also "a quantity of water, etc., for bathing," from Proto-Germanic *badan (source also of Old Frisian beth, Old Saxon bath, Old Norse bað, Middle Dutch bat, German Bad), from PIE root *bhē- "to warm" + *-thuz, German

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