southpaw

I am a left-handed person, and was interested in the etymology of the term "south paw."  When I looked it up in the AHD, it gave me the following story, which I am familiar with: 

"Etymology: From the practice in baseball of arranging the diamond with the batter facing east to avoid the afternoon sun. A left-handed pitcher facing west would therefore have his pitching arm toward the south of the diamond."

I half-expected this explanation, since the term is used today to generally mean a left-handed person, but mostly in the context of baseball, for a person who bats or pitches left-handed. The AHD confirms this with its definition: "Slang A left-handed person, especially a left-handed baseball pitcher."

However, just for the heck of it I headed over to the OHD, where I got a slightly different story.  The first use of this word in our language was in 1848.  It appeared in a political cartoon called B-Hoy which depicted two presidential candidates, Zachary Taylor and Lewis Cass, and a number of other political figures brawling (kind of).  Lewis Cass is throwing a punch with his left hand, and Fillmor exclaims, "Curse the old Hoss-- wot a south paw he has given me!" and is obviously meant to refer to Cass.  Other early uses of the word cited by the OHD simply refer to the left hand, or to left-handed players of other sports, like polo and boxing.  The first direct reference to baseball was printed in "1928: Daily Ardmoreite (Ardmore, Okla.) 12 Apr. 8/1 Herb Pennock southpawed his way the route for the Yankees".  In 1959, the following was printed in  Sunday Times 8 Nov. 32/6 In the ball parks all over the United States the so-called ‘diamond’, formed by the track between the bases, is always oriented to the same points of the compass, so that in whatever park a team is playing the pitcher on his mound will always have his right hand on the north side of his body; hence a left-hander is a ‘southpaw.’ And this passage seems to be the first point in time when the 'baseball' thesis of the word's origin is printed.  So today's usage of the word to mean a left-handed person seems to be truer to its original meaning, although baseball fans may find the suggestion contentious and hold on to their story.  

South has been around since Middle English, and comes from the Old English  sth.  Paw is from Middle English pawe, from Old French powe (AHD).

Cartoon courtesy Library of Congress online photo archives.