The N-word at the time of Huck Finn

Thu Mar 12 04:40:41 UTC 2009

Thanx. I appreciate this.

B
On 11 Mar 2009, at 10:46 PM, Joel S. Berson wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> Subject:      Re: The N-word at the time of Huck Finn
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>
> I should say that I have not tried to analyze these quotations
> myself.  I am just offering them as one body of evidence, and if more
> context is desired one can go to the sources.
>
> For favorable senses, again only from the noun, and ignoring things
> like "1. A dark-skinned person of sub-Saharan African origin or
> descent; = NEGRO n. 1a.". Also, not including quotations from the
> 20th century.
>
> 1.a. Used by whites or other non-blacks as a relatively neutral (or
> occas. positive) term, with no specifically hostile intent.
>  Quots. 1608, 1788, etc., expressing patronizing views, reflect
> underlying attitudes rather than a hostile use of the word itself.
>
> 1574 E. HELLOWES tr. A. de Guevara Familiar Epist. (1584) 389 The
> Massgets bordering upon the Indians, and the Nigers of Aethiop [Sp.
> los negros en Ethiopia], bearing witnes. 1584 R. SCOT Discouerie
> Witchcraft VII. xv. 153 A skin like a Niger. 1608 A. MARLOWE Let. 22
> June in E. India Co. Factory Rec. (1896) I. 10 The King and People
> [of 'Serro Leona'] Niggers, simple and harmless. 1636 W. PITT & J.
> DOWNHAM Let. 16 Sept. in Eng. Factories in India 1634-6 (1911) 292
> Have granted passages to a Moor and three 'nigors'. 1656 DUCHESS OF
> NEWCASTLE Assaulted & Pursued Chastity 237 The Priest which came to
> fetch him forth, saw him thus drest, never seeing hair before, for
> they had none but wooll, and very short as Nigers have. 1676 S.
> SEWALL Diary 1 July, Jethro, his Niger, was then taken. a1704 T.
> BROWN Lett. from Dead in Wks. (1707) II. ii. 121 A manner that
> discover'd he had an ascendency over the rest of the immortal Nigres.
> 1760 G. WALLACE Princ. Law Scotl. in Ann. Reg. (1760) II. 265/1 Set
> the Nigers free, and, in a few generations, this vast and fertile
> continent would be crouded with inhabitants. 1786 R. BURNS Ordination
> iv, in Poems & Songs (1971) 171 How graceless Ham leugh at his Dad,
> Which made Canaan a niger [rhyme vigour, rigour, tiger]. 1788 S. LOW
> Politician Out-witted III. i. 27 Toupee. By gar, I get de
> satisfaction! Humphry. He talks as crooked as a Guinea niger. 1833 C.
> WILLIAMS Fall River 184 Some say poor niger hab no shoule. Vel dat I
> dont know, but dis I know, I got something in my body make me feel
> tumfortable. 1867 H. LATHAM Black & White 127 Niggers (they are not
> 'coloured persons' yet in the South) are most artful flatterers. 1897
> Outing 29 333/1 What is wanted is a genuine nigger{em}not a colored
> person.
>
> [I would add that the previous is the sense I generally get from
> reading 17th and 18th century texts -- in particular, without
> hostility, although often with deprecation (blacks were not equal to
> whites), up until the start of "scientific racism" at the end of the
> 18th century, I think.  But Barbara is asking about mid-19th century.]
>
> c. Used by blacks as a neutral or favourable term.  [Sent in my
> previous message.]
>
> 4. Now chiefly in African-American usage: a person, a fellow
> (regardless of skin colour).
>  Recent use has developed from a conscious, politically motivated
> reclamation of the term among black Americans, and as such does not
> usually carry negative connotations, although it may be considered
> offensive when used by whites in imitation of this usage.
>  The following examples show use of the word in reference to white
> people; examples showing neutral or positive use in reference to
> black people are at senses A. 1a , A. 1c.
>
> a1848 G. F. RUXTON Life in Far West 166 What does the niggur say?
> 1850 L. H. GARRARD Wah-to-Yah 161 They..pick up a beaver trap to ask
> what it is{em}just shows whar the niggurs had their bringin' up. 1851
> M. REID Scalp-hunters 108 Oncet upon a time, this niggur [sc. the
> speaker] chawed a varmint that wan't much sweeter.
>
> 5. In African-American usage: (with possessive adjective) a close
> (usually black) friend, a comrade, a boyfriend or girlfriend, a
> spouse.
> [1884 J. C. HARRIS in Cent. Mag. Nov. 121/1, I say ter myse'f, maybe
> my nigger man mought be some'rs 'roun'.] 1884 J. A. HARRISON Negro
> Eng. in Anglia 7 266 To tu'n er nigger right loose, to give a man
> free play.
>
> And some very recent senses, 1963, 1965, and later (omitting the
> quotations themselves):
>
> 6. Esp. U.S. A person who is socially, politically, or economically
> disadvantaged or exploited; a victim of prejudice likened to that
> endured by African-Americans.
>  In this use usually with awareness of the word's offensive
> connotations, but without intention to cause offence, to identify a
> group regarded as similarly disadvantaged or exploited.
>  In quot. 1963, the editor explains:1997 D. BRINKLEY in H. S.
> Thompson Proud Highway 411 (note) After reading Norman Mailer's The
> White Negro, Thompson developed a theory that all working-class
> people were niggers.
>
> 7. U.S. Any person who behaves in a manner associated with urban
> African-Americans; a person who identifies with urban
> African-American culture as opposed to middle-class white culture.
>
> Other senses are specific or technical -- e.g., a kind of fish in
> Australia, etc.
>
> Joel
>
> At 3/11/2009 10:21 PM, Barbara Need wrote:
>> Thanx, Joel. No, at this moment I don't have access to the OED on
>> line
>> (alas).
>>
>> I confess I'm not entirely convinced that the I.1.b citations for
>> 1775, 1811 or even the 1818 uses represent contempt or abuse. In the
>> first one it follows "pious wretch"; I would like to see more context
>> for the second; and the third, well, "bad conduct and inferior
>> nature"
>> show contempt, but that doesn't mean "nigger" does? Or am I missing
>> something?
>>
>> But I do see 19th century uses that are neutral (though the OED says
>> those are only used by other blacks). I don't see Huck's use as
>> contemptuous, and neither do my black students (they both were trying
>> to contrast Huck's neutral use with regular, abusive use of the
>> times).
>>
>> What kind of dates are found for favorable uses?
>>
>> Barbara
>>
>> On 11 Mar 2009, at 9:04 PM, Joel S. Berson wrote:
>>
>>> Barbara, if you don't have quick access to the on-line OED the
>>> following might help---or not!  It seems terribly complex.  [I've
>>> omitted most of the 20th-century quotations.]
>>>
>>> Draft revision Mar. 2009.
>>>
>>> I.1.b. Used by whites or other non-blacks as a hostile term of abuse
>>> or contempt.
>>> 1775 in F. Moore Songs & Ballads Amer. Revol. (1856) 101 The rebel
>>> clowns, oh! what a sight! Too awkward was their figure. 'Twas yonder
>>> stood a pious wight, And here and there a nigger. 1811 BYRON in Mem.
>>> F. Hodgson (1878) I. 195 The rest of the world{em}niggers and what
>>> not. 1818 H. B. FEARON Sketches Amer. 46 The bad conduct and
>>> inferior
>>> nature of niggars (negroes). a1849 H. COLERIDGE Ess. & Marginalia
>>> (1851) I. 164 A similar error has turned Othello..into a rank
>>> woolly-pated, thick-lipped nigger. 1861 H. A. JACOBS Incidents in
>>> Life Slave Girl vii. 59 Do you suppose that I will have you tending
>>> my children with the children of that nigger? 1931 D. L. SAYERS Five
>>> Red Herrings i. 11 Waters.., like all Englishmen, was ready enough
>>> to
>>> admire and praise all foreigners except dagoes and niggers. 1936 M.
>>> MITCHELL Gone with Wind 401 'You're a fool nigger, and the worst
>>> day's work Pa ever did was to buy you,' said Scarlett slowly...
>>> There, she thought, I've said 'nigger' and Mother wouldn't like that
>>> at all.
>>>
>>> c. Used by blacks as a neutral or favourable term.  [Note quote from
>>> Mark Twain.]
>>> 1831 H. J. FINN Amer. Comic Ann. 88 'You be right dere,' observed
>>> Sambo, '..else what fur he go more 'mong niggers den de white
>>> trash?'
>>> 1838 R. M. BIRD Peter Pilgrim I. 238 Wanted to run, massa, but no
>>> more run than a barn-door; stuck fast in the mud{em}could'nt
>>> move{em}all over with niggah! 1848 G. LIPPARD Paul Ardenheim II. i.
>>> 225 For sixteen{em}seventeen year, dis nigga watch his time. 1884
>>> 'M.
>>> TWAIN' Adventures Huckleberry Finn viii. 72 Dey wuz a nigger name'
>>> Bob, dat had ketched a wood-flat. c1937 in N. R. Yetman Voices from
>>> Slavery 257 A nigger by name o' Enoch Golden married us.
>>>
>>> d. Used by blacks as a depreciatory term.
>>> 1834 F. LIEBER Letters 90 A negro boy under my window calls a lad of
>>> the same race, by way of reproach, 'nigger'. 1866 Atlantic Monthly
>>> July 79 When they call each other 'nigger', the familiar term of
>>> opprobrium is applied with all the malice of a sting. 1926 C. VAN
>>> VECHTEN Nigger Heaven 26 I'm..tired to death of all these Niggers
>>> downstairs. [Note] While this informal epithet is freely used by
>>> Negroes among themselves, not only as a term of opprobrium, but also
>>> actually as a term of endearment, its employment by a white person
>>> is
>>> always fiercely resented.
>>>
>>> 2. a. A person who does menial labour; any person considered to be
>>> of
>>> low social status. derogatory. Cf. (and earliest in) white nigger n.
>>> at WHITE adj. Special uses 1e.
>>> 1835 R. M. BIRD Hawks of Hawk-Hollow I. xi. 154 Wa' to been married
>>> soon, but faw the white nigga Gilbert, what cut the Colonel's
>>> throat!
>>> 1871 E. EGGLESTON Hoosier School-master iv. 52 'Ole Miss Meanses'
>>> white nigger', as some of them called her, in allusion to her
>>> slavish life.
>>>
>>> b. Any person whose behaviour is regarded as reprehensible.
>>> derogatory.
>>> 1840 W. G. SIMMS Border Beagles xxv, They're [sc. white officers of
>>> justice] afraid of me, the niggers, and you see I ain't afraid of
>>> them. [1861 Let. in H. Holzer Dear Mr. Lincoln 361 Abe
>>> Lincoln..goddam you..you are nothing but a goddam Black nigger.]
>>>
>>> These are just the noun uses; there are similar senses for the
>>> adjectival use, as well as favorable senses that I have not copied
>>> here.
>>>
>>> Joel
>>>
>>> At 3/11/2009 09:40 PM, Barbara Need wrote:
>>>> I am grading papers about racism in _Huck FInn_ and several
>>>> students
>>>> have said something implying that _nigger_ was offensive at either
>>>> the
>>>> time the book is set or the time Twain was writing (or both). I
>>>> have
>>>> not found anything very useful in the archives. Do we know how
>>>> offensive the word was in the 19th century?
>>
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