Sambo -- not 1861 or 1704, but 1657
Joel S. Berson
Berson at ATT.NET
Mon Feb 1 01:49:26 UTC 2010
I suspect Jon meant earliest generic name used to refer to *blacks* -- Jon?
George Thompson wrote
>I suppose the contestant are Taffy, Sawney & Paddy.
These are the three I've been looking at; plus one could add "Jock",
which perhaps does appear earlier; see below. The OED has "1.b. A
Scottish (or {dag}northern English) sailor; a Scottish soldier or a
member of a Scottish regiment; any Scotsman. Freq. as a nickname.
slang." -- from 1788, but "2. A countryman, a rustic, a clown.' --
from 1658 and then 1803.
>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.
Nor did I, I don't have access from home. But I agree with George's
last point, for Google Books.
A quick Google Books search for Paddy, Taffy, Sawn[e]y, and Jock is
predominantly unproductive -- if they're used in books before 1660,
it will be hard to find. For example, many false positives or
irrelevancies for Taffy; only one hit for Sawney and it's actually
French "la maison de Sanoye", only three Sawnys, one Greek, one
Latin, one French title (page restricted, no publisher information,
and title unknown to WorldCat).
For Jock, after trying to eliminate works in Dutch there is "The
humble petition of Jock of Bread, Scotland: To the high and
honourable ...", allegedly 1649 (no preview). But to balance that
slur, in _The book of common prayer and administration of the
sacraments: and other ..._, - Page 107" , is the claim of Scottish
ancestry for Our Lord -- "which jock was Christ" ... oh, no, it's
actually "which rock was Christ".
Another Jock: _The Famovs Victories of Henry the fifth: Containing
the Honourable Battell of Agin-Court As it was plaide by the Queenes
Maiesties Players_. [no author.] London: Printed by Thomas Creede,
1598. One of the characters is "Iock". ["One of the sources of
Shakespeare's Henry IV, probably written about 1587."] Full view.
And much more in Latin, which Google Books seems to think is English
despite my request to restrict the language.
The characters in Shakespeare's Henry V, of course, are Gower,
Fluellen, MacMorris, and Jamy. Was he PC, or what?
Joel
At 1/31/2010 02:44 PM, Robin Hamilton wrote:
>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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