Origin of word "redskin"

[Arnold M. Zwicky]

On May 26, 2005, at 10:44 AM, RonButters at AOL.COM wrote:

> ... The blood-dripping scalp
> story, though, is pretty clearly not historically true. The term
> was in use long
> before scalp-taking was even thought of.they were speaking of folks
> who had
> affiliation with the sports team.
>
> ... Most recently, a federal court ruled that the football team has
> a legitimate
> right to the trademark--that it is not "scandalous" or "defamatory" or
> "derogatory." The court overruled a decision to the contrary by the
> federal trademark board.


geoff nunberg, who testified in the Redskins case, discusses deford's
claim at:

   http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/002194.html