Editing Funk (section)

== Etymology ==
{{Wiktionary|funk}}
The word ''funk'' initially referred (and still refers) to a strong odor. It is originally derived from [[Latin]] {{lang|la|fumigare}} (which means "to smoke") via [[Old French]] {{lang|fro|fungiere}} and, in this sense, it was first documented in English in 1620. In 1784, ''funky'' meaning "musty" was first documented, which, in turn, led to a sense of "earthy" that was taken up around 1900 in early jazz slang for something "deeply or strongly felt".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=funk|title=Online Etymology Dictionary – Funk|website=Etymonline.com|language=en|access-date=January 20, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-fun2.htm|title=World Wide Words: Funk|last=Quinion|first=Michael|date=October 27, 2001|website=World Wide Words|language=en-gb|access-date=January 20, 2017}}</ref> Even though in white culture, the term ''funk'' can have negative connotations of odor or being in a bad mood (''in a funk''), in African communities, the term ''funk'', while still linked to body odor, had the positive sense that a musician's hard-working, honest effort led to sweat, and from their "physical exertion" came an "exquisite" and "superlative" performance.<ref name="autogenerated80">Thompson, Gordon E. ''Black Music, Black Poetry: Blues and Jazz's Impact on African American Versification''. Routledge, Apr. 15, 2016. p. 80.</ref>

In early [[jam session]]s, musicians would encourage one another to "[[get down]]" by telling one another, "Now, put some ''stank'' on it!" At least as early as 1907, [[jazz]] songs carried titles such as ''Funky''. The first example is an unrecorded number by [[Buddy Bolden]], remembered as either "Funky Butt" or "Buddy Bolden's Blues", with improvised lyrics that were, according to Donald M. Marquis, either "comical and light" or "crude and downright obscene" but, in one way or another, referring to the sweaty atmosphere at dances where Bolden's band played.<ref>Donald M. Marquis: In Search of Buddy Bolden, Louisiana State University Press, 2005, pp. 108–111 {{ISBN |978-0-8071-3093-3 }}</ref><ref name=RealMusicForum>[http://www.realmusicforum.com/history/who-started-funk-music/2008122356/ Who Started Funk Music] {{Webarchive|url= https://web.archive.org/web/20091009054718/http://www.realmusicforum.com/history/who-started-funk-music/2008122356/ |date=October 9, 2009 }}, ''Real Music Forum''</ref> As late as the 1950s and early 1960s, when ''funk'' and ''funky'' were used increasingly in the context of [[jazz music]], the terms still were considered indelicate and inappropriate for use in polite company. According to one source, [[New Orleans]]-born drummer [[Earl Palmer]] "was the first to use the word 'funky' to explain to other musicians that their music should be made more syncopated and danceable."<ref name=Guardian>{{cite news|url = https://www.theguardian.com/music/2008/sep/23/popandrock.usa |title = Obituary: Earl Palmer|work = [[The Guardian]] |first = Pierre|last = Perrone|date = 22 September 2008}}</ref> The style later evolved into a rather hard-driving, insistent rhythm, implying a more ''carnal quality''. This early form of the music set the pattern for later musicians.<ref>Merriam-Webster, Inc, [https://archive.org/details/merriamwebsterne00merr/page/175 <!-- quote=funk origins of word. --> ''The Merriam-Webster New Book of Word Histories''] (Merriam-Webster, 1991), {{ISBN|0-87779-603-3}}, p. 175.</ref> The music was identified as slow, sexy, loose, [[riff]]-oriented and danceable.{{citation needed|date=January 2017}}

The meaning of ''funk'' continues to captivate the genre of black music, feeling, and knowledge. Recent scholarship in black studies has taken the term ''funk'' in its many iterations to consider the range of black movement and culture. In particular, L.H. Stallings's ''Funk the Erotic: Transaesthetics and Black Sexual Cultures'' explores these multiple meanings of ''funk'' as a way to theorize sexuality, culture, and western hegemony within the many locations of ''funk'': "street parties, drama/theater, strippers and strip clubs, pornography, and self-published fiction."<ref>Stallings, L. H. ''Funk the Erotic: Transaesthetics and Black Sexual Cultures'', U Of Illinois Press, 2015, pp. 1–29.</ref>