Word Origin mid 19th century: origin uncertain. The phrase ‘Dixie's land’ is first recorded in the 1859 minstrel song ‘Jonny Roach’, typically attributed to the minstrel performer Daniel D. Emmett. Emmett also wrote and performed ‘I Wish I Was in Dixie’ later in the same year; this song, now known simply as ‘Dixie’, became enormously popular during the American Civil War and led to the association of the name with the American South.
