Major Antedating of "Native American"

[Shapiro, Fred]

In a 1994 article in American Speech, the distinguished lexicographer Sidney Landau used traditional research methods to trace the term "Native American" back to 1909.  I then published a 2001 article in the same journal using online resources to push "Native American" back to 1737.  The OED presently has 1737 as its first use.

Now, however, using a new database search in Early English Books Online, I have found two 17th-century examples of the term:

1645 Thomas Fuller _Good Thoughts in Bad Times_ 158 (Early English Books Online)  I Could both Sigh, and Smile, at the Simplicity of a Native _American_, sent by a Spaniard, his Master, with a Basket of Figgs, and a Letter (wherein the Figgs were mentioned) to carry them both to one of his Masters friends.

1682 R.F. _The Present State of Carolina with Advice to the Settlers_ 12 (Early English Books Online)  Certainly this Climate is destinated to solace the Native _American_, and with the Blessings of Heaven to refresh the solicitous _European_.

Fred Shapiro
Editor
Yale Book of Quotations (Yale University Press)

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