"nayger" [WAS: Re: Rastus (was: "Jazz Means Happy and Loose Like" (1917))]

Mon Dec 10 00:15:06 UTC 2007

Perhaps "levelling" is not _le mot juste_.

  JL

Dennis Preston <preston at MSU.EDU> wrote:
  ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: Dennis Preston

Subject: Re: "nayger" [WAS: Re: Rastus (was: "Jazz Means Happy and Loose
Like" (1917))]
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I thought maybe that was the case, but I'm still puzzled by
levelling, especially levelling from "both."

dInIs

>---------------------- Information from the mail header
>-----------------------
>Sender: American Dialect Society
>Poster: Jonathan Lighter
>Subject: Re: "nayger" [WAS: Re: Rastus (was: "Jazz Means Happy and Loose
> Like" (1917))]
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>"Niger" was apparently pronounced / i / until, perhaps, it became an
>archaic form learned from print.
>
> JL
>
>"Dennis R. Preston"
wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>-----------------------
>Sender: American Dialect Society
>Poster: "Dennis R. Preston"
>
>Subject: Re: "nayger" [WAS: Re: Rastus (was: "Jazz Means Happy and Loose
>Like" (1917))]
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>JL,
>
>I don't understand the concept of levelling here. If "Niger" was
>pronounced /ay/ (LIGHT) (forget the quality of the 'g') and "Neger"
>was pronounced /ey/ (FACE) or /e/ (BET), what is the levelling
>process that yields /I/ (HIT)?
>
>dInIs
>
>>---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>-----------------------
>>Sender: American Dialect Society
>>Poster: Jonathan Lighter
>>Subject: "nayger" [WAS: Re: Rastus (was: "Jazz Means Happy and
>>Loose Like"
>> (1917))]
>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>"Nayger" is a dial. remnant of 16th C. "Neger."
>>
>> I once did a good deal of research on these forms. Some of the
>>results are in HDAS. Some further upshots:
>>
>> 1. "Nigger" is not a variant pronunciation (or
>>"mispronunciation") of "Negro."
>>
>> 2. a. "Niger" (one "g") was until the early to mid 18th C. a
>>mostly neutral term.
>> b. "Nigger" results from a leveling of both "Neger" and "Niger."
>>
>> 3. Runaway slave notices, slave auction ads, etc., which would not
>>seem to require euphemisms, uniformly employ "Negro," as though
>>"nigger" were inappropriate for polite use..
>>
>> 4. The earliest printed exx. of "nigger" as a term of
>>white-against-black abuse are from the early 19th C.
>>
>> JL
>>
>>Wilson Gray wrote:
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>-----------------------
>>Sender: American Dialect Society
>>Poster: Wilson Gray
>>Subject: Re: Rastus (was: "Jazz Means Happy and Loose Like" (1917))
>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>Makes sense to me, Mark, although I'd call it more "unpopular than
>>"pejorative," mainly because it's been rare in my experience - I've
>>seen it in print; I *may* have heard it very rarely when I was a
>>child, but it wouldn't have had any special meaning. Besides, to the
>>extent that I remember it at all, it was used about as often for
>>cartoon, po'-white, hillbilly types as for blacks in literature of the
>>day. I've known "nigger," well, "nigguh," since I was four or five
>>years old, when it packed less than the emotional weight of, perhaps,
>>"dumbbell." Being called "nigger" by another nigger wouldn't send
>>anybody home crying, but being called "dumbbell" by someone else who
>>wasn't one might. It was only when it was used against me by white
>>people that it became truly hurtful. E.g. I was waiting for the bus in
>>Central Square Cambridge to go visit my girlfriend in Boston, so you
>>can imagine where my mind was. I vaguely noticed a white man walking
>>toward me. As he passed, he sneered at me, "You Goddamned nigger!" and
>>continued on his way as though nothing had happened. I was caught
>>completely off guard and totally discombobulated, not knowing whether
>>to shit or go blind. Had I been a child, I might well have broken into
> >tears.
>>
>>Then, when I got over to my girlfriend's house, she was in a foul mood
> >and, with the down-so-low-that-I- had-to-look-up-at-my-feet mood that
>>I was in, it killed the relationship.
>>
>>But, speaking from the point of view of dialect, I'd read somewhere or
>>other that, back in the day, the Irish referred to blacks using a
>>pronunciation that sounded to the authors like "naygurs." The white
>>man of whom I speak said what sounded to me like "naygah" [ne:ga].
>>(Unforunately, this wasn't the first time that I had heard this
>>pronunciation. I've merely supplied a sample anecdote.) Supposedly,
>>Boston is the most Irish of American cities. So, WAG, perhaps this
>>pronunciation is a cross between the old-time Irish pronunciation and
>>the ah-less New England pronunciation.
>>
>>-Wilson
>>
>>On Dec 5, 2007 1:42 PM, Mark Mandel wrote:
>>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>>-----------------------
>>> Sender: American Dialect Society
>>> Poster: Mark Mandel
>>> Subject: Rastus (was: "Jazz Means Happy and Loose Like" (1917))
>> >
>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>
>>> (thread in ADS-L; cc to ANS-L)
>>>
>>> On Dec 3, 2007 2:38 PM, Arnold M. Zwicky wrote:
>>>
>>> > check out the wikipedia on Rastus, which suggests that the name Rastus
>>> > was from Erastus and was given by slave-owners to their slaves -- and
>>> > quickly became generalized as a pejorative term used by whites for
>>> > blacks. (the Cream of Wheat guy is named Rastus, by the way, though i
>>> > suspect that the company no longer uses the name.)
>>>
>>> On Dec 4, 2007 12:39 AM, Wilson Gray replied:
>>>
>>> > I pretty much agree with "Rastus" as being derived from "Erastus." But
>>> > "Erastus" is a Latinization of Greek "Erastos." This is derived from
>>> > _era-_, love (in the sexual sense). Would a slave, especially a male
>>> > one, have been given such a name? It seems unlikely, from the
>>> > contemporary impression of what that period was like. But, who really
>>> > knows, nowadays?
>>>
>>>
>>> That argument is based on the assumption that the namer (owner,
>>>blech!) kne=
>>> w
>>> the Greek etymology. ISTM just as likely that many knew it only as a Latin
>>> name, and some may have known that it came from Greek, but very few would
>>> have known the origin within Greek.
>>>
>>> And for that matter (I continue with WAGgery), all it would have taken was
>>> one or a few masters applying the name, and others picking it up
>>>with littl=
>>> e
>>> or no knowledge of its antecedents. Does the historical documentation allow
>>> any inference on diachronic spread?
>>>
>>> The article has been modified since Arnold's post, including
>>>deletion of th=
>>> e
>>> sentence "During the period of [[American slavery]], it was common practice
>>> for owners to give their slaves historical, and particularly Biblical,
>>> names."
>>>
>>> The article now reads in part (latest
>>> revision: 00:01, 5 December 2007; lists of examples snipped; emphasis
>>> added):
>>>
>>> Rastus is a pejorative term traditionally associated with African Americans
>>> > in the United States. It is considered highly offensive
>>> >
>>> > The name is sometimes given as 'Rastus, and it is likely a shortening of
>>> > Erastus, a disciple of St. Paul mentioned in Acts 19:22, Romans
>>>16:23, an=
>>> d 2
>>> > Timothy 4:20. "Rastus" has been used as a generic, often derogatory, name
>>> > for Black men at least since 1880, when Joel Chandler Harris included a
>>> > Black deacon named "Brer Rastus" in the first Uncle Remus book.
>>>**Contrar=
>>> y
>>> > to popular belief, however, "Rastus" has never been
>>>particularly popular =
>>> as
>>> > a Black name.** For example, the 1870 census reported only 42 individuals
>>> > named "Rastus" in the United States, of whom only four were Black or
>>> > mulatto. Rastus=97as any happy black man, not as a particular
>>>person=97be=
>>> came a
>>> > familiar character in minstrel shows (...), in books (...), in
>>>popular so=
>>> ngs
>>> > (...), on radio, and in films, most notably the Rastus series
>>>of short fi=
>>> lms
>>> > (...).
>>> > (usage for Cream of Wheat )
>>> >
>>>
>>> m a m
>>>
> >> ------------------------------------------------------------
>>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >>
>>
>>
>>
>>--
>>All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
>>come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
>>-----
>>-Sam'l Clemens
>>
>>------------------------------------------------------------
>>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>
>>
>>
>>---------------------------------
>>Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile.
>>Try it now.
>>
>>------------------------------------------------------------
>>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
>
>--
>Dennis R. Preston
>University Distinguished Professor
>Department of English
>15C Morrill Hall
>Michigan State University
>East Lansing, MI 48824
>517-353-4736
>preston at msu.edu
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
>
>
>---------------------------------
>Never miss a thing. Make Yahoo your homepage.
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

--
Dennis R. Preston
University Distinguished Professor
Department of English
Morrill Hall 15-C
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48864 USA

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

---------------------------------
Looking for last minute shopping deals?  Find them fast with Yahoo! Search.

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org