"fellow" = "A black man"

[Jonathan Lighter]

I'd discount them unless they show that a *meaning*  of "fellow" really is
"a black man."

As in the imaginary example I suggested.

Wilson jocularly uses the phrase "the colored fellow."  (I assume it's
jocular because of the old-fashioned sound.) That doesn't show that the word
"fellow" means "black man" in current or even in recent English.

JL

On Wed, Apr 6, 2011 at 5:31 PM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> Subject:      Re: "fellow" = "A black man"
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> At 4/5/2011 08:05 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> >At best, the connotations of "fellow" in the appropriate era may have been
> a
> >little more heavily weighted toward black men than, say, those of "chap,"
> >but I'd be hard put to defend *defining* "fellow" as a black man. OED
> offers
> >only two citations. Neither of them compels the definition.
>
> The OED entry is 1989.  I would expect more in the database today.
>
> I have added a few citations here.  And I can provide countless
> examples from EAN throughout the 18th century of "Negro fellow" --
> although perhaps Jon would discount them because they are of the same
> nature as the OED's first of its two citations, an advertisement for
> a run-away.
>
> The OED's second citation is from a dictionary.  Apparently J.R.
> Bartlett believed it in 1860.
>
> Perhaps it's time to name some of my sources for extensive
> transcriptions of slave advertisements.
>
> Desrochers, Robert E., Jr. "Slave-For-Sale Advertisements and Slavery
> in Massachusetts, 1704--1781." William and Mary Quarterly, vol. 59,
> no. 3 (July, 2002), 623--664.
>
> Greene, Lorenzo J. [Johnston]. "The New England Negro as Seen in
> Advertisements for Runaway Slaves." Journal of Negro History, vol.
> 29, no. 2 (Apr., 1944), 125--146.
>
> Dow, George Francis. The Arts & Crafts in New England, 1704--1775:
> Gleanings from Boston Newspapers ... . Topsfield, Mass.: The Wayside
> Press, 1927.  Esp. 185--203.
>
> Greene, Lorenzo Johnston. The Negro in Colonial New England,
> 1620--1776. New York: Columbia University Press, 1942. Reprint: with
> a new preface by Benjamin Quarles. New York: Atheneum, 1969.  Esp.
> 33--43, 119--120.
>
> Donnan, Elizabeth. Documents Illustrative of the History of the Slave
> Trade to America. Vol. 3: New England and the Middle Colonies
> (Washington, D.C.: Carnegie Institute of Washington,
> 1932).  3:19--68, various "Notices of Sales."
>
> Towner, Lawrence William. A Good Master Well Served: Masters and
> Servants in Colonial Massachusetts, 1620--1750. New York: Garland
> Publishing, Inc., 1998. Adapted from Lawrence Towner, "A Good Master
> Well Served: A Social History of Servitude in Massachusetts,
> 1620--1750", Ph.D. diss., Northwestern University, 1954.
>
>
> Joel
>
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