Origin of the Name "Reggae"

The origin of the name reggae is unclear. Some say that it comes from the word Regga, the name of a Bantu speaking tribe located on Lake Tanganyika in central Africa. It is unclear why Regga would be associated with reggae music, other than word resemblance. Similarly, it is thought that the name reggae is a variation of the Jamaican patois slang word streggae, which can mean either a prostitute, or someone who is poor and barefoot. The Oxford English Dictionary says the origin of the word is unknown, but may be derived from the Jamaican-English word rege-rege, meaning quarrel.



Despite the ambiguous origin of the name, by the late 1960's the word reggay (or reggae) was being used to describe a dance fashion in Jamaica. The word was then used by the ska band Toots and the Maytals, appearing in the title of their 1968 hit Do the Reggay, cementing its association with Jamaican music and dance.