[Ads-l] snatch 'female pudenda'

[Joel S. Berson]

When this is submitted to the OED, include the surrounding sentences, 
which make it clear that "snatches" were vital body parts, not 
something like a wampum belt or even a top-knot:

"White Antelope, War Bonnet and a number of others had Ears and 
Privates cut off.  Squaws
snatches were cut out for trophies.  You would think it impossible 
for white men to butcher and
mutilate human beings as they did there ..."

Joel

At 12/2/2014 02:45 PM, Mullins, Bill CIV (US) wrote:
>Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
>Caveats: NONE
>
>Here:
>http://www.kclonewolf.com/History/SandCreek/sc-documents/sc-soule-to-wynkoop-12-14-64.html
>
>is a transcript of the letter.
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On
> > Behalf Of Charles C Doyle
> > Sent: Tuesday, December 02, 2014 10:51 AM
> > To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> > Subject: snatch 'female pudenda'
> >
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header ---------------
> > --------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Charles C Doyle <cdoyle at UGA.EDU>
> > Subject:      snatch 'female pudenda'
> > -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> > --------
> >
> > =0A=
> > An article in the recent (Dec. 2014) _Smithsonian_ magazine, vol. 45,
> > no. 8=
> > , pp. 50-57, "Massacre at Sand Creek," by Tony Horwitz, quotes a
> > dispatch w=
> > ritten by Capt. Silas Soule, regarding the 1864 massacre of a thousand
> > Chey=
> > ennes and Arapahos (men, women, and children) by the U.S. army near
> > Sand Cr=
> > eek, Colorado:=0A=
> > =0A=
> > "Squaws [sic] snatches were cut out for trophies" (p. 54).=0A=
> > =0A=
> > The OED's earliest citation for that sense of the word (snatch n.14) is
> > fro=
> > m 1904, in the _English Dialect Dictionary_.=0A=
> > =0A=
> > I wonder if the American instance from 1864 or 1865, as given in the
> > quotat=
> > ion, is credible.=0A=
> > =0A=
> > --Charlie=
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
>Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
>Caveats: NONE
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org