[Ads-l] Antedating of "American Indian"

[Joel Berson]

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