Antedating of "Native American"

[Fred Shapiro]

In 2001 I published an article in American Speech (76: 109-12) entitled
"Computer-Assisted Evidence for the Antiquity of the Term 'Native
American.'"  In this article the earliest citation I could find for
_Native American_ was 1737.

I have now found the following two earlier citations, by searching
Eighteeenth Century Collections Online:

1721 Philip Rose _A theorico-practical, miscellaneous, and succinct
treatise of the plague. Shewing its nature, signs, causes, prevention and
cure_ 14  This _Radison_ went young to _Hudson's_ Bay, to one of the
_French_ Factories, where he abode two or three Years; his curious and
rambling Mind, moved him to go to the Native _Americans_, he lived with
them about twenty Years.

1721 Jacques Bernard _An appendix to the three English volumes in folio of
Morerys Great historical, geographical, genealogical and poetical
dictionary_ (not paginated)  CHACO ... This Country is inhabited by a
great Number of Native _Americans_; but the _Europeans_ are not yet
settled there.

Fred Shapiro


--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fred R. Shapiro                             Editor
Associate Librarian for Collections and     YALE DICTIONARY OF QUOTATIONS
  Access and Lecturer in Legal Research     Yale University Press,
Yale Law School                             forthcoming
e-mail: fred.shapiro at yale.edu               http://quotationdictionary.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------