The N-word at the time of Huck Finn

[Laurence Horn]

At 11:00 AM -0700 3/12/09, Arnold Zwicky wrote:
>On Mar 12, 2009, at 10:20 AM, Joel S. Berson wrote:
>
>>At 3/12/2009 11:25 AM, RonButters at AOL.COM wrote:
>>>Given the prevailing attitudes towards black people at the time--even
>>>scientists--"nigger," "darky," etc. were just the terms that people
>>>used.
>>>There WERE no "racist" epithets, because the modern idea of racism
>>>had not even
>>>been invented yet,
>>
>>Not so, I believe.  "Scientific racism", viewing blacks as inherently
>>inferior to whites, began in the last quarter of the 18th century, ...
>
>indeed.  the division of humankind into discrete races, in combination
>with the view that certain races are inherently inferior to others,
>has a very long history.  so the *idea* or *concept* of racism isn't
>new at all.
>
>now, the english *words* "racism" and "racist" seem to be relatively
>recent.  the OED's first cite for "racism" is from 1933 (and the word
>figured prominently in Ruth Benedict's 1940 book Race: Science and
>Politics) , and its first cites for the noun and adjective "racist"
>are from 1927.
>
>one 1927 cite refers to "the most notorious Racists", so disapproval
>of racist ideas is not a new thing either.  *widespread* disapproval
>probably is relatively recent, however.

The traditional British version has usually been "racialist", and
there are earlier cites with that form:

1901 Harper's Weekly 2 Mar. 235 My English fellow-racialists (they
might misunderstand me if I called them fellow-countrymen, but that's
what they are), how well I understand their little game!

1908 Internat. Jrnl. Ethics 18 484 The estimates formed by various
recent and contemporary racialists of the importance of particular
marks.

There's a note at the entry hedging the first cite, though:
An earlier term than RACIST n., but now largely superseded by it.
In quot. 1901 perh.: a person who belongs to a particular race.

Also these early ones for "racialism":

1902 Galveston (Texas) Daily News 1902 5/4 The subject of the address
will be 'Racialism and Catholicity'.
1925 E. S. JONES Christ of Indian Road ii. 67 Amid the racial clash
and bitterness there stands one who is the Son of man. Racialism
withers at his touch.
1938 Sun (Baltimore) 2 Sept. 10/1 The Italian Jews are thus to be
added to the victims of Hitler's imbecile 'racialism', now adopted by
Mussolini as a sop to superior force.

LH

>i'd guess that the idea of "racist epithets" -- the idea that certain
>words can be intrinsically racist -- is also relatively recent.
>
>arnold
>
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