Antedating of "Hispanic"

[Joel S. Berson]

At 3/27/2011 08:33 PM, Michael Newman wrote:
>The similar semantic scope problems can be said for Latino, which
>may or may not include Brazilians. Hispanic at least can have a
>tenuous connection to linguistic heritage of larger societies,
>although not only do plenty of so-called Hispanics not speak Spanish
>but some have ancestors who never did.
>
>There are semantic scope problems with African American too.

With such questions about what people are called by others and the
divisions in what people call themselves, I suspect the OED will need
an entry for "Hispanic" as nuanced and lengthy as its entry for "Negro".

Joel

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