Antedating of "Hispanic"

[Shapiro, Fred]

Victor's points are well-taken.  Merriam-Webster takes out the linguistic element from their definition ("of, relating to, or being a person of Latin American descent living in the United States; especially : one of Cuban, Mexican, or Puerto Rican origin").  I'm not sure why "especially one of Cuban, Mexican, or Puerto Rican origin" is necessary.

Fred Shapiro



________________________________________
From: American Dialect Society [ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of victor steinbok [aardvark66 at GMAIL.COM]
Sent: Sunday, March 27, 2011 7:18 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: Antedating of "Hispanic"

I know Cape-Verdians are a nearly separate category (or sub-category),
and Hatians /are/ a separate category (and a migrating one) in the
Census and on most federal forms, but must "Hispanics" be
Spanish-speaking in most common denotations? In particular, I'm
wondering how Brazilians are classified both formally and informally
on federal forms and by US English speakers. And Spanish
Spanish-speakers are also of questionable categorization, are they
not? Those I know in the US have always (to my knowledge) listed
themselves as white/Caucasian/European, although, I must admit, I know
very few Spanish expats.

Besides, a considerable number of "Hispanics" in the US do not speak
Spanish--surely a minority, but a substantial number. So would a
dictionary really go with a language-based definition here or look for
ethnicity-based compromise? It seems to be a can of worms, no matter
how the definition is constructed.

VS-)

On Sun, Mar 27, 2011 at 6:02 PM, Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu> wrote:
>
> Considering the importance and sensitivity of the adjective "Hispanic," it is surprising that the OED has gone so long with an inadequate entry for it.  The old meaning of the word ("Pertaining to Spain or its people") has no quotations in OED, and the new meaning ("Spanish-speaking, esp. applied to someone of Latin-American descent living in the United States") has a late dating of 1974 for the first use.
>
> I have not made a full-blown effort to push back the first use of the new meaning, but here is the earliest I have found in cursory research:
>
> 1960 _Chicago Defender_ 23 Jan. 11 (ProQuest Historical Newspapers)  NEW YORK -- Several hundred questionnaires have been mailed to all known Spanish-speaking organizations in the metropolitan area, as part of a "census" of such organizations and their leadership, conducted jointly by the Commission on Intergroup Relations, the Puerto Rican-Hispanic Leadership Forum and the Office of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
>
> Fred Shapiro

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