Camels vs. dromedaries?

[Joel S. Berson]

Eureka!  Jesse, take note.  Bill, how did you know where to find these?

Joel

At 4/3/2008 11:35 AM, Mullins, Bill AMRDEC wrote:
>Classification:  UNCLASSIFIED
>Caveats: NONE
>
>These are pictures from a set of trading cards issued about 1888.  They
>were inserted in packs of cigarettes.
>
>Camel (note two humps)
>http://www1.coe.neu.edu/~dan/z-ns-N41/N41-camel.jpg
>
>Dromedary (note one hump)
>http://www1.coe.neu.edu/~dan/z-ns-N41/N41-drom.jpg
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: American Dialect Society
> > [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of Joel S. Berson
> > Sent: Thursday, April 03, 2008 9:05 AM
> > To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> > Subject: Camels vs. dromedaries?
> >
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> > Subject:      Camels vs. dromedaries?
> > --------------------------------------------------------------
> > -----------------
> >
> > In the early 19th century, might people have used the word
> > "camel" to refer to one species (I am guessing to the
> > Bactrian) and "dromedary" to refer to the other species (the Arabian)?
> >
> > The OED merely asserts that " a lighter and fleeter variety
> > of the [Arabian] is known as the Dromedary."
> >
> > Or perhaps the distinction was made only in Salem, Massachusetts.
> >
> > In James Felt's _Annals of Salem_ (2nd ed., 1845 & 1849), he
> > describes several collections of animals exhibited there in
> > 1834.  Of one he writes "In the collection were ... camels;" of
> > another later in the year his complete description is "There
> > is a similar exhibition here. Of the animals were two dromedaries."
> >
> > In _The House of the Seven Gables_ (1851), Hepzibah's first,
> > and a steady, customer at her cent-shop is a young schoolboy
> > who is fond of gingerbread animals.  On one visit, Hawthorne
> > writes, he "now proposed to eat a camel."  The next day he
> > "had signalized his omnivorous prowess by swallowing two
> > dromedaries and a locomotive."  The day after that, when he
> > reappears on an errand for his mother, Hawthorne reminds us
> > who he is by writing "the little devourer ... of Jim Crow,
> > the elephant, the camel, the dromedaries, and the locomotive."
> >
> > So these two writers were making some
> > distinction.  Was it the number of humps?  Or the slimmer
> > outline of the fleet dromedary (seen in the profiles of a
> > parade or a gingerbread treat)?
> >
> > Joel
> >
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> >
> >
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>Caveats: NONE
>
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