refugee, IDP, evacuee

[Jonathan Lighter]

Storms have been creating "refugees" for over 150 years now :

1843 _North American Review_ (July) 75  The [ New England fishing ] vessels that kept their positions...escaped unharmed, under their storm-trimmed foresails, while the refugees were seen no more for four days.

1888 _Harper's New Mo. Mag._ (Dec.) 87 Most of the arch and dorways were full of refugees from the storm.

In a non-meteorological context :

1899 _Century_ (July) 451 [In "The Outcasts of Poker Flat," Bret Harte] beguiled a party of refugees into the wilds of the Sierra Nevada.

Cornell's _Making of America_ turned these up in no time.

JL

Alice Faber <faber at HASKINS.YALE.EDU> wrote:
---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: Alice Faber
Organization: Haskins Laboratories
Subject: Re: refugee, IDP, evacuee
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> OED gives "displaced person" as one of the recognized senses of "refugee." But surely exx. must be available before 1914 ?
>
> The word cranks, bless them, may have fallen prey to the etymological fallacy, however. The earliest OED sense (and maybe the definition was overly specific: worth a review, Jesse !) specifies "one who seeks refuge in a foreign country."
>
> The reason for that is that "refugee" in English was first applied to the French Huguenots.
>
> I stick by my opinion that anyone who would object stridently and publicly to the word "refugee" in the midst of a natural catastrophe is semi-educated.
>
> Or over-educated, as the case may be.

Or sensitive to some connotations of the word that have nothing to do
with its etymological history. I've seen enough statements now from
people who think that use of the word "refugee" connotes "not-American",
and I think that it's disrespectful, given how marginalized many of the
folks who were most affected by the storm already feel.
--
 =============================================================================
Alice Faber faber at haskins.yale.edu
Haskins Laboratories tel: (203) 865-6163 x258
New Haven, CT 06511 USA fax (203) 865-8963

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