Major Antedating of "Concentration Camp" (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Laurence Horn]

On Feb 4, 2013, at 11:15 AM, Mullins, Bill AMRDEC wrote:

> Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
> Caveats: NONE
>
> They probably go back at least to the Egyptians and the Israelites.

Right, but as always the question is whether we're antedating the concept (or practice) or the term (or its cross-linguistic analogues).  We're back to the Spanish-American War era, predating the Boer War, right?  Of course the repurposing of "concentration camp" as a practical euphemism for "death camp" comes a bit later.

LH
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On
>> Behalf Of Shapiro, Fred
>> Sent: Sunday, February 03, 2013 12:10 PM
>> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>> Subject: Re: Major Antedating of "Concentration Camp"
>>
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> ---------------
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>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       "Shapiro, Fred" <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
>> Subject:      Re: Major Antedating of "Concentration Camp"
>>
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
>> --------
>>
>> Thanks for pointing this out, Jon.  Wikipedia also notes concentration
>> camps (the thing, not the term) run by Russia in Poland in the 18th
>> century, by the United States for Cherokees and other Native Americans
>> in the 1830s, and by Spain in Cuba in the Ten Years' War (1868-1878).
>>
>> Fred Shapiro
>>
>>
>>
>> ________________________________________
>> From: American Dialect Society [ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] on behalf of
>> Jonathan Lighter [wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM]
>> Sent: Sunday, February 03, 2013 12:44 PM
>> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>> Subject: Re: Major Antedating of "Concentration Camp"
>>
>>> It is not often that an antedating removes a significant stain from
>> the
>> his=
>> tory of a major nation, ...
>>
>> Gee, I thought everybody knew this about the Spanish in Cuba.  I
>> learned it in high-school American history.
>>
>> The claim that the British invented the "concentration camp"
> originally
>> came from the Germans, AFAIK..
>>
>>
>> JL
>>
>> On Sun, Feb 3, 2013 at 10:57 AM, Shapiro, Fred
>> <fred.shapiro at yale.edu>wrote:
>>
>>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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>>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>> Poster:       "Shapiro, Fred" <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
>>> Subject:      Major Antedating of "Concentration Camp"
>>>
>>>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
>> -
>>> ---------
>>>
>>> It is not often that an antedating removes a significant stain from
>>> the his= tory of a major nation, but this one does that (not that it
>>> improves the Br= itish record in the Boer War, but at least it can
> no
>>> longer be said that th= e British invented the "concentration
> camp").
>>>
>>> concentration camp (OED 1901)
>>>
>>> 1897 _Louisville Courier-Journal_ 17 July 9 (ProQuest Historical
>>> Newspapers=
>>> )  "If the United States does not come to the help of this people
>> more
>>> than=
>>> 100,000 of them will perish in a month."  This is from a letter
>>> written by=  an American citizen living in the province of Santa
>>> Clara, Cuba.  The horr= ors of Weyler's concentration policy have
>> been
>>> pictured in strong colors, b= ut it seems as if the worst has not
> yet
>>> been realized.  "In the beginning o= f the concentration," this
>>> American writes, "the people driven into the; to= wns were
>>> occasionally allowed to go to the country on passes and search for=
>>> food to bring back to camp.   Having such passes, they sometimes
>> escaped
>>> t=
>>> he notice of the scouting parties.  Now, however, the Spanish
> columns
>>> have = received orders from Weyler to shoot any one, whether
>> furnished
>>> with a pass=  or not, wherever found outside of the concentration
>>> camp.
>>>
>>> [NOTE: This article appears to be reprinted from the St. Louis
>>> Globe-Democr= at]
>>>
>>> Fred Shapiro
>>>
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>>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
>> truth."
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