Sambo -- not 1861 or 1704, but 1657

Mon Feb 1 00:47:17 UTC 2010

I suppose the contestant are Taffy, Sawney & Paddy.

OED has "a1700" for Taffy; EEBO seems to have it from the mid 17th C.
"a1704" for Sawney (Scotsman -- as opposed to Sawney = fool)
Paddy = 1714

I didn't check EEBO for Sawney or Paddy -- seemed likely to be a pain in the ass.

GAT

George A. Thompson
Author of A Documentary History of "The African Theatre", Northwestern Univ. Pr., 1998, but nothing much lately.

----- Original Message -----
From: Robin Hamilton <robin.hamilton2 at BTINTERNET.COM>
Date: Sunday, January 31, 2010 2:46 pm
Subject: Re: Sambo -- not 1861 or 1704, but 1657
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU

> I can't for the life of me think of examples off-hand -- something
> seems to
> have switched off in my brain -- but wouldn't the generic naming of the
> Scots, Irish, and Welsh based on a "typical" name date back to maybe the
> Renaissance, including a use in drama?  (As in, "There are too many paddys
> on this list.  <g>)
>
> The only thing I can call to mind in terms of specifics -- the general
> use
> of a particular name -- isn't quite parallel: the Machiavels are
> coming to
> town.
>
> Robin
>
> > Know what?  "Sambo" may actually be the earliest ex. of this kind of
> > generi=
> > c
> > naming in English.
> >
> > Am I right?
> >
> > JL
> >
> > On Sat, Jan 30, 2010 at 8:59 PM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> >> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> >> -----------------------
> >> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >> Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> >> Subject:      Re: Sambo -- not 1861 or 1704, but 1657
> >>
> >> -------------------------------------------------------------------------=
> > ------
> >>
> >> "with dry lips" perhaps =3D "with a dry throat"?
> >>
> >> For some reason, generic _singularia tantum_ always give me a chuckle,
> >> when used of people. I've never forgotten the similar generic use of
> >> _Comrade_ "German by us hamburgers, a half-century ago. It covered
> any
> >> random numbers of Germans from a single individual to the entire
> >> nation.
> >>
> >> Of course, we'd a said, "If ..., Comrade _ be (steady [st^dI]) _
> >> gettin' [gETIn] up."
> >>
> >> The above use of "get up" is semantically derived from the "Get up!"
> >> used  to put a horse into motion and not from the one that's
> >> equivalent to "Stand up!"
> >>
> >> -Wilson
> >>
> >> On Sat, Jan 30, 2010 at 10:20 AM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
> >> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> >> -----------------------
> >> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >> > Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> >> > Subject:      Re: Sambo -- not 1861 or 1704, but 1657
> >> >
> >> -------------------------------------------------------------------------=
> > ------
> >> >
> >> > Not just HDAS but even the OED has the 1704 instance.  And in
> >> > addition to the HDAS 1838 generic use, the OED has one from 1735:
>  J.
> >> > ATKINS Voy. to Guinea, Brazil & W. Indies 170 If you look strange
> and
> >> > are niggardly of your Drams, you frighten him; Sambo is gone, he
> >> > never cares to treat with dry lips.
> >> >
> >> > But I found a reference to a specific "Sambo" from 1657, via
> >> > EEBO.  See ADS-L archives, 2008 Sep 11, Subject: "Sambo" 1657,
> >> > antedates OED 1704-.  (The OED entry has not yet been revised from
> >> > the 1989 edition.)
> >> >
> >> > Joel
> >> >
> >> > At 1/29/2010 10:24 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> >> >>HDAS files contain two refs. to slaves actually named "Sambo"
> (1704 and
> >> >>1768). OED has an 1818 that is unlikely to be generic.
> >> >>
> >> >>Judge Haliburton's _Clockmaker_ (Series 2)  1838, p. 30 seems to
> use
> >> >>the name generically: "And Sambo...is sold a second time ag'in."
> >> >>
> >> >>Henry Louis Gates (_Signifying Monkey_, p. 95) cited an undoubted
> ex.
> >> from
> >> >>1846: "Here, 'Sambo,' you dam jiggery toe nigger."
> >> >>
> >> >>The name was in common (white) use by the 1850s. There's even a rare
> >> plural
> >> >>by 1864:
> >> >>
> >> >>1864 in _Arkansas Historical Qly._ XII (1953) 360: Hundreds of
> >> >>spectato=
> > rs
> >> -
> >> >>ladies, gentlemen, civilians, soldiers, "Sambo's," etc., crowded
> >> >>around=
> > .
> >> >>
> >> >>JL
> >> >>
> >> >>
> >> >>
> >> >>On Fri, Jan 29, 2010 at 9:12 PM, James A. Landau <
> >> JJJRLandau at netscape.com> <
> >> >>JJJRLandau at netscape.com> wrote:
> >> >>
> >> >> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> >> >> > -----------------------
> >> >> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >> >> > Poster:       "James A. Landau <JJJRLandau at netscape.com>"
> >> >> >              <JJJRLandau at NETSCAPE.COM>
> >> >> > Subject:      Sambo
> >> >> >
> >> >> >
> >> >>
> >> -------------------------------------------------------------------------=
> > ------
> >> >> >
> >> >> > I found an 1861 usage of "Sambo" to mean a black man.
> >> >> >
> >> >> >
> >> >> >
> >> >>
> >> http://www.sonofthesouth.net/leefoundation/civil-war/1861/december/george=
> > -opdyke.htm
> >> >> >
> >> >> > Harper's Weekly    December 21, 1861
> >> >> >
> >> >> > <quote>
> >> >> > Some writers from Port Royal have stated that the negroes will
> not
> >> work,
> >> >> > but that when work is offered them they will fly to the woods.
> This
> >> >> > =
> > is
> >> >> > indignantly denied by other writers, and by several officers
> of the
> >> >> > expedition, who state that the contrabands work willingly and
> >> >> ably. It would
> >> >> > not be surprising if poor Sambo, after a dozen generations of
> >> >> > slaver=
> > y,
> >> >> > should want to celebrate his sudden emancipation by a brief holiday.
> >> >> > </quote>
> >> >
> >> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> >> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >> >
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> --
> >> -Wilson
> >> =96=96=96
> >> All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"=96=96a strange complaint
> >> t=
> > o
> >> come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
> >> =96Mark Twain
> >>
> >> ------------------------------------------------------------
> >> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >>
> >
> >
> >
> > --=20
> > "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
> > truth."
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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