[Ads-l] Antedating of "American Indian"
Joel Berson
berson at ATT.NET
Wed May 27 12:47:25 UTC 2015
So were John Eliot and Samuel Sewall wrong, the American Indians were not descendants of the lost tribes of Israel, but rather of the Welsh? And Samuel Butler wrong too, in apparently supposing that "penguin" was a (presumably South) American Indian word? (See OED, "penguin", n., etymology.)
Joel
From: "Shapiro, Fred" <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Sent: Tuesday, May 26, 2015 9:48 PM
Subject: [ADS-L] Antedating of "American Indian"
American Indian (OED 1702)
1684 Samuel Butler _Hudibras_ 216 (Early English Books Online) The _American Indians_ call a great Bird they have, with a white head a _Penguin_; which signify's the same thing in the _Brittish_ Tongue.
Fred Shapiro
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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
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