refugee, IDP, evacuee

[Paul Frank]

> 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.
>
> JL

I plead semi-educated. But I don't object to the word refugee in any
context. I rarely object to words.

Paul
______________________________________
Paul Frank
Chinese-English translation: social sciences
German-English translation: sinology
French-English translation: sinology
paulfrank at post.harvard.edu