Sambo -- not 1861 or 1704, but 1657

[Joel S. Berson]

At 1/31/2010 10:38 AM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>Know what?  "Sambo" may actually be the earliest ex. of this kind of generic
>naming in English.
>
>Am I right?
>
>JL

Jon, I haven't made the kind of search that might demonstrate this
(which of course is more amenable to disproof than to proof).  My
discovery of the 1657 "Sambo" was serendipitous -- I happened across
it in a quotation used by a secondary source.  But I do not recall
seeing myself other generic names this early -- I think if I had I
would have noted them here.

There is also the supposition in some dictionaries that "Sambo" comes
from a tribe called the "Samboses".  See my message in the ADS-L
archives, "Re: Sambo as a slave name -- etymology?", 2007 Dec
28.  That mentions "The second voyage of John Hawkins, 1564-1565";
possibly published in Hakluyt, _Principal Navigations_.  That might
push "Sambo" back another century.  (I have not looked further into this.)

Joel

>...
> >
> > 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 spectators
> > -
> > >>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 slavery,
> > >> > should want to celebrate his sudden emancipation by a brief holiday.
> > >> > </quote>

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