Historians with linguistic awareness

[Joel S. Berson]

At 7/16/2007 04:48 PM, Jon L. wrote:

>Thomas Sullivan, who unearthed the quote, is not a linguist or
>lexicographer, but he obviously recognized the cite as significant
>We need more historians like him!

Like the ones who noticed "shit-house" and "piss-house" from 1665, or
the coinage of "flying hospital" (OED2 has 1869-) by George
Washington ... oops, that was I.

Seriously, though, I've seen other historians who've remarked on
early instances, and I've generally submitted such finds -- but
usually citing the primary source.  One such is Albert Harkness, Jr.,
in "Americanism and Jenkins' Ear" (_Mississippi Valley Historical
Review_, Vol. 37, No. 1 [June, 1950], who puts the rise of "American"
(noun) = colonial of European origin, and contrasted with "European",
to the 1740s, and points out even earlier instances (antedating OED2)
from 1701 and 1691.

 From now on, I'll report here on and credit linguistically aware historians.

Joel

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