Early "terrorist"

[Christopher Philippo]

On Jan 5, 2014, at 10:25 AM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> OED has the modern sense from 1806, but nothing again for sixty years. The completely natural usage below suggests that the word was familiar, at least to politicians and journalists, in the 1830s: […]


I’d say you’re right!
*  “He was at that moment in Paris, protesting against a decision of the representative Aubry, who had stricken him from the rolls of the artillery, as a protégé of the terrorists.” New-York American For the Country. July 1, 1828: 1 col 4.
*  “We trust that the result will restore tranquility to the city, and put down the boisterous brawling of the agitators and terrorists in that state.” “Nullification.” Schenectady Cabinet. September 15, 1830: 3 col 2. (sourced to Com. Adv.)
*  “With union and perseverance, his cause can be made to prevail against that of the nullifiers, disunionists, corruptionists, and terrorists, that now bear away.” New-York American For the Country. December 17, 1830: 1 col 1
*  “Lady Morgan, in her late work on France, mentions of having seen a horrible relick in the museum of a private gentleman.  It was a copy of the Constitution of 1793, bound in human skin!  It had been the properly of a terrorist, who paid the forfeit of his atrocity on the scaffold.” Oswego Free Press. February 16, 1831: 4 col 6.
*  “1795. […] down with the Terrorists” “Shouts in Paris.” Utica Sentinel & Gazette. October 18, 1831: 1 col 4.
*  "M. Rouget de Pisle had been wounded at Quiberon, and persecuted by the terrorists, from whom he had escaped by flying into Germany.—Encyclopaedia Americana” "Marseilles Hymn." Chittenango Herald. March 12, 1844: 1 col 6.

Christopher K. Philippo
Glenmont, NY
http://doesnotevenrhyme.blogspot.com

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