"mink" (n.) = 'a black, a Negro'?

[RonButters at AOL.COM]

Oh, come ON!!! I've known white guys nick-named "Mink," and one Korean.
Putting "Negro" in a dictionary entry for "mink" makes no more sense than
putting one there for "coal" or "night" or "pitch" or "jaguar." This is just a
simile, not an etymology.

In a message dated 5/10/09 2:30:08 PM, Berson at ATT.NET writes:


> So we have the etymology; now all we need is to have the sense for
> the noun in the OED.
>
> Joel
>
> At 5/10/2009 02:16 PM, George Thompson wrote:
> > > Nothing on my shelf either, at a glance. But there is/was the
> expression
> > > "black as a mink", which was used early enough (at G. Books from 1815)
> > > and which probably accounts for the "mink" allusion.
> >
> >         New-York General Sessions, Nov. 8.  People vs. Beers. --
> > Beers, a mink-black little negro, and for years an approved waiter
> > in a most respectable porter-house and tavern in Nassau-street, and
> > lately a principal actor in the African corps dramatique, was
> > yesterday tried and convicted of grand larceny.  It has been
> > suggested that his passion for his new pursuit led him to the deed
> > for the purpose of obtaining funds to purchase decorations for his
> theatre.
> >***
> >New-York American, November 10, 1821, p. 2, col. 5
> >
> > > I see a few 19th-century instances of 'black' men named/nicknamed
> "Mink"
> > > (?relevance).
> >
> >I think I recall a Faulkner character named "Mink" -- he would have
> >been a white haracter.
> >
> >GAT
> >
> >George A. Thompson
> >Author of A Documentary History of "The African Theatre",
> >Northwestern Univ. Pr., 1998, but nothing much lately.
> >
> >----- Original Message -----
> >From: "Douglas G. Wilson" <douglas at NB.NET>
> >Date: Saturday, May 9, 2009 11:39 pm
> >Subject: Re: "mink" (n.) = 'a black, a Negro'?
> >To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> >
> > > Joel S. Berson wrote:
> > > > ...
> > > > "At 10Q.M. de moss spiceable brack folk ob stinkation gan show he
> > > > head from ebery treet and ally, like so many Mohe-choah Mink in a
> > > mud-bank ..."
> > > >
> > > > I presume "mink" here means 'a black/Negro person', from "mink
> > > > n.1  3.a.  ... thick glossy dark brown fur".  And "mohe-choah" is
> > > 'mocha' (?).
> > > >
> > > > Thus not in OED draft rev. Mar. 2009.  Nor in Chapman or
> > > > Wentworth/Flexner, the only two American slang dictionaries on my
> > > poor shelf.
> > > -
> > >
> > > Nothing on my shelf either, at a glance. But there is/was the
> expression
> > > "black as a mink", which was used early enough (at G. Books from 1815)
> > > and which probably accounts for the "mink" allusion. At G. Books I see
> > > a
> > > few 19th-century instances of 'black' men named/nicknamed "Mink"
> > > (?relevance).
> > >
> > > I reckon "moch[o]a" is probably right, but I'm not sure why it's used
> > > here, whether some mink were called "mocha" or whether it's just to
> say
> > > "black" again (but "mocha" is/was less dark than "black", right?). My
> > > OED shows a "mocha" referring to the color of a cat (?relevance).
> > >
> > > -- Doug Wilson
> > >
> > > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
> >------------------------------------------------------------
> >The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
>




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