Major General Ambrose Burnside, c.1863. A man in a US Civil War uniform sporting exceedingly bushy sideburns that connect with his moustache.
8 November 2021
Sideburns are strips of hair grown down a person’s face and in front of the ears, that is to say, side-whiskers. The term is an alteration of the earlier burnside, which in turn comes from the name of Ambrose Burnside. Burnside was a less-than-competent Union general in the US Civil War (1861–65), who briefly commanded the Army of the Potomac, and after the war he become a successful politician, serving as governor of and then US senator from his native Rhode Island.
Many Civil War soldiers sported impressive sets of whiskers, but Burnside’s were in a class by themselves. As you can see from the photo here, his side whiskers were exceptionally bushy and extended all the way down his cheeks, becoming part of his moustache. His chin was clean shaven.
Sideburns is an excellent example of several etymological forces at work. There is folk etymology, where an unfamiliar term is altered to make it seem familiar. And there is the process by which a compound term goes from open (two words), to hyphenated (two words linked by a hyphen), and finally to closed (one word).
The use of burnside as a name for side-whiskers is found in print from shortly after the war. Here is an example from an article in the New York Mercury of 14 September 1867 that extols the virtues of eligible young men in the various regions where the paper circulated. This particular case refers to a man from Olneyville, Rhode Island, Burnside being governor of that state at the time:
Edward Suther, a modest prepossessing man of twenty-three; a clerk; devotes a great deal of his time to the cultivation of a pair of Burnsides; is reported to be expecting something from the girl on the Hill; income fair.
A few years later we have this example of burnsides from further afield, from Washington, Pennsylvania, 30 June 1869. From an article about the local graduating class:
One member of the class supports whiskers, ten wear “Burnsides,” a like number have goatees, six have raised mustaches, and four have attempted it, while eighteen go clean shaved.
But as the term spread and the temporal distance from Burnside’s Civil War fame grew, the syllables in the term swapped places, becoming sideburns. This bit of folk etymology is influenced by both side-whiskers and Burnside’s declining fame in other regions of the country.
We see the open compound side burns in an article in Minnesota’s Sunbeam of December 1875:
At the door we were met by a gentleman with side whiskers who informed us that his name was McClaren, Sheriff of the Moot court now in session [....]
McClaren fleeced them, for you know those “side burns” are killing to the girls, and add tone while among the “laddies;” poor Archie, we pity you.
Returning to Washington, Pennsylvania, we have this hyphenated form in reporting on a local baseball game on 14 June 1876:
Without saying anything about the youngman who left such a fine crop of “side-burns” in Brownsville in order to play in this game, we give the score as follows.
And three days later, on 17 June 1876, we see the closed compound in an article from San Saba, Texas:
The young man with the “sideburns” says that the News is mistaken in saying that the butchers sometime since sold drowned beef, as they kill their own meat and never buy from others.
For a man who, on paper, has a very impressive résumé, to be remembered chiefly for one’s facial hair must be something of a letdown. But, given the time and effort that Burnside must have devoted to cultivating such whiskers, perhaps he would not be displeased with his legacy. At least it’s better than being remembered for his disasters at Fredericksburg or the Battle of the Crater.
Sources:
“Class of ’69.” Washington Reporter (Washington, Pennsylvania), 30 June 1869, 5. Readex: America’s Historical Newspapers.
“The Great Trial.” The Sunbeam (St. Paul, Minnesota), December 1875, 2. Gale Primary Sources: Amateur Newspapers from the American Antiquarian Society.
“Our Rural Bachelors.” New York Mercury, 14 September 1867, 2. Gale Primary Sources: Amateur Newspapers from the American Antiquarian Society.
“Local Affairs.” San Saba News (Texas). 17 June 1876, 3. Readex: America’s Historical Newspapers.
“Local Affairs.” Washington Reporter (Washington, Pennsylvania), 14 June 1876, 1. Readex: America’s Historical Newspapers.
Oxford English Dictionary, third edition, March 2016, modified December 2019, s.v. sideburn, n.; second edition, 1989, s.v. burnside, n.
Image credit: Matthew Brady [?], c. 1863. Library of Congress. Public domain image.