Origin of the word Funk, please?

Question

James Brown seemingly Funky dude?
Perhaps my socks are funky, correct?
Giving up food for Funk - Source - JB's?
Anyway, where did it originate, word Funk?

Answer 1

:music musical style: a type of popular music that derives from jazz, blues, and soul and is characterized by a heavy rhythmic bass and backbeat

[Mid-20th century. Back-formation from funky .]

:melancholy: a state of melancholy or hopeless sadness (informal)

[Mid-18th century. Origin unknown.]

:bad smell: a strong unpleasant odor (slang)

[Early 17th century. Origin uncertain: possibly via dialectal French funquer “to smoke” from, ultimately, Latin fumigare ]

Answer 2

Funk #1
NOUN:
A state of cowardly fright; a panic.
A state of severe depression.
A cowardly, fearful person.
VERB:
funked , funk·ing , funks
VERB:
tr.
To shrink from in fright or dread.
To be afraid of.
VERB:
intr.
To shrink in fright.

ETYMOLOGY:
Probably from obsolete Flemish fonck, disturbance, agitation

Funk#2
NOUN:
Music
An earthy quality appreciated in music such as jazz or soul.
A type of popular music combining elements of jazz, blues, and soul and characterized by syncopated rhythm and a heavy, repetitive bass line.
Slang An unsophisticated quality or atmosphere of a region or locality: "The setting is country funk" (Nina Martin).
ETYMOLOGY:
Back-formation from funky 2

Answer 3

Funk is a distinct style of music originated by African-Americans, e.g., James Brown and his band members (especially Maceo and Melvin Parker), and groups like The Meters. Funk best can be recognized by its syncopated rhythms; thick bass line (often based on an "on the one" beat); razor-sharp rhythm guitars; chanted or hollered vocals (as that of Cameo or the Bar-Kays); strong, rhythm-oriented horn sections; prominent percussion; an upbeat attitude; African tones; danceability; and strong jazzy influences (e.g., as in the music of Herbie Hancock, George Duke, Eddie Harris, and others).

Answer 4

Funk was the original name for milk

Answer 5

funk1 (fŭngk)
n.

A state of cowardly fright; a panic.
A state of severe depression.
A cowardly, fearful person.

v., funked, funk·ing, funks.

v.tr.
To shrink from in fright or dread.
To be afraid of.
v.intr.
To shrink in fright.

[Probably from obsolete Flemish fonck, disturbance, agitation.]


funk2 (fŭngk)
n.
Music.
An earthy quality appreciated in music such as jazz or soul.
A type of popular music combining elements of jazz, blues, and soul and characterized by syncopated rhythm and a heavy, repetitive bass line.
Slang. An unsophisticated quality or atmosphere of a region or locality: “The setting is country funk” (Nina Martin).

Answer 6

Origin Of The Word Funk

Answer 7

comes from old french "funkier" to smoke or smell. Maybe because early blues were quite earthy and sung by smelly land workers?

Answer 8

funk off

Answer 9

History
Origin of funk
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Look up funk in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

The word "funk", once defined in dictionaries as body odor or the smell of sexual intercourse, commonly has been regarded as coarse or indecent. African-American musicians originally applied "funk" to music with a slow, mellow groove, then later with a hard-driving, insistent rhythm because of the word's association with sexual intercourse. This early form of the music set the pattern for later musicians. The music was slow, sexy, loose, riff-oriented and danceable. Funky typically described these qualities. In jam sessions, musicians would encourage one another to "get down" by telling one another, "Now, put some stank ('stink'/funk) on it!" At least as early as the 1930s, jazz songs carried titles such as Buddy Bolden's Funky Butt. As late as the 1950s and early 1960s, when "funk" and "funky" were used increasingly in the context of soul music, the terms still were considered indelicate and inappropriate for use in polite company.

The distinctive characteristics of African-American musical expression are rooted in West African musical traditions, and find their earliest expression in spirituals, work chants/songs, praise shouts, gospel and blues. In more contemporary music, gospel, blues and blues extensions and jazz often flow together seamlessly. Funky music is an amalgam of soul music, soul jazz and R&B.
James Brown and funk as a genre

Only with the innovations of James Brown in the late 1960s was funk regarded as a distinct genre. In the R&B tradition, these tightly rehearsed bands created an instantly recognizable style, overlaid with catchy, anthemic vocals. Often cueing his band with the command, "On the one!" Brown changed the rhythmic emphasis from the two-four beat of traditional soul music to a one-three emphasis previously associated with European musical forms -- but with a hard-driving, brassy swing. This pumping, one-three beat became a signature of classic funk. While James Brown's 1965 Top 10 King Records hit "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" is widely presumed to be the song that paved way for the funk genre, much of Brown's work in 1965 and 1966, though remarkable, still maintained the rhythms and approach found in earlier records. It was the #1 R&B hits "Cold Sweat" in 1967, "I Got The Feelin'" and "Say It Loud, I'm Black And I'm Proud" in 1968 that further defined the feel of funk. R&B #1's "Give It Up Or Turn It Loose" and "Mother Popcorn" in 1969 continued to solidify the tight rhythms, riffs and grooves for which funk music is known, setting the standard for James Brown's future work and the rising wave of funk to come in the 1970s.

Other musical groups picked up on the riffs, rhythms, and vocal style innovated by James Brown and his band, and the style began to grow. Dyke & the Blazers based in Phoenix, Arizona released "Funky Broadway" in 1967, perhaps the first record to have "funky" in the title. Meanwhile, on the West Coast, Charles Wright & the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band were releasing funk tracks beginning with their first album in 1967, culminating in their classic single "Express Yourself" in 1970. The Meters defined funk in New Orleans starting with their Top Ten R&B hits "Sophisticated Cissy" and "Cissy Strut" in 1969. Another group who would define funk in the decade to come were The Isley Brothers whose funky 1969 #1 R&B hit, "It's Your Thing", signaled a breakthrough in African-American music bridging the gaps of the rock of Jimi Hendrix and the upbeat soul of Sly & the Family Stone.
1970s and P-Funk

In the 1970s, a new group of musicians further developed the "funk rock" approach innovated by Jimi Hendrix. George Clinton, with his bands Parliament and, later, Funkadelic, produced a new kind of funk sound heavily influenced by jazz and psychedelic music. The two groups had members in common and often are referred to singly as "Parliament-Funkadelic." The breakout popularity of Parliament-Funkadelic gave rise to the term "P-Funk," which both referred to the music by George Clinton's bands and defined a new subgenre.
George Clinton with rainbow dreads at the VH1 Fashion Awards.
Enlarge
George Clinton with rainbow dreads at the VH1 Fashion Awards.
"P-funk" also came to mean something in its quintessence, of superior quality, or sui generis, as in the lyrics from "P-Funk," a hit single from Parliament's album "Mothership Connection":

Answer 10

George Clinton's finger ;)