Reading the current Mudcat thread What no Limbo inspired me to check out the information given in Internet & other resources about the Limbo dance.

I was curious as to whether the name for the dance had any connection with the Catholic's place name "Limbo". I also wanted to learn more about where the Limbo dance came from and why it was traditionally performed.

Here's what I found out regarding the dance's name after doing some research on these questions:

The name "Limbo" [for the dance] almost certainly is related to the word "Limbo" as used by the Catholics. See this excerpt from http://www.thefreedictionary.com/limbo :

"Limbo-Middle English, from Medieval Latin (in) limb , (in) Limbo, ablative of limbus, Limbo, from Latin, border...
Word History: Our use of the word limbo to refer to states of oblivion, confinement, or transition is derived from the theological sense of Limbo as a place where souls remain that cannot enter heaven, for example, unbaptized infants. Limbo in Roman Catholic theology is located on the border of Hell, which explains the name chosen for it. The Latin word limbus, having meanings such as "an ornamental border to a fringe" and "a band or girdle," was chosen by Christian theologians of the Middle Ages to denote this border region. English borrowed the word limbus directly, but the form that caught on in English, limbo, first recorded in a work composed around 1378, is from the ablative form of limbus, the form that would be used in expressions such as in limb, "in Limbo."


-snip-

Also, see this excerpt from http://www.businessballs.com/clichesorigins.htm

"limbo - state of uncertain balance or being between two situations -today's use is based on two separate meanings which may both have had the same origin: 'limbo' is the Caribbean dance requiring excellent balancing skills, in which the performer repeatedly passes beneath a horizontal bar reducing in height each time; the early English meaning of 'limbo' was for a a temporary holding place, eg between heaven and hell, or a waste basket; it also meant 'prison' in Victorian times; original derivation from Latin 'limbus' meaning 'the edge'."

-snip-

Furthermore, see this excerpt from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limbo_(dance) :

"The name [limbo] comes directly from the English of Trinidad; Merriam-Webster lists the etymology as "English of Trinidad & Barbados; akin to Jamaican English limba to bend, from English limber" (see definition #2 at http://m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?limbo). [2 a : a place or state of restraint or confinement b : a place or state of neglect or oblivion c : an intermediate or transitional place or state d : a state of uncertainty]"

-snip-

That reference to the Jamaican English word "limba" meaning "to bend" reminded me of the English word "limber". One definition of "limber" as given by wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn is "capable of moving or bending freely". One definition of the phrase "limber up" as given by that same source is "to "make one's body limber or suppler by stretching, as if to prepare for strenuous physical activity".

These definition certainly apply to the movements of the Limbo dance.

So, it seems that the dance name "Limbo" does come from the same root word as the Catholic "Limbo". However, "limber" [which also comes from that same root word]is probably a better fit for this dance name than the word "limbo" itself.

In my next post to this thread I'll share my opinion on whether the traditional Limbo dance has any relationship to the Catholic use of the word "Limbo".