[Ads-l] Antedating of "American" (Inhabitant of America, of European Descent)

[Joel Berson]

I knew I was a bit skeptical about English Americans in 1595, and I agree with John Baker's interpretation of the passage.  However, I did not utterly disbelieve the date, since English cod fishers in/off Newfoundland in the 16th century did stay on land.  They fished inshore, during periods of migration.  So they presumably came to Newfoundland twice a year, settled for a period, and then returned to England until the next migration season.  I thought it possible (although unlikely) that they might have been called "English Americans."

(See Wikipedia, "Cod fishing in Newfoundland" and "St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador".)

Joel

      From: "Shapiro, Fred" <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
 To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU 
 Sent: Wednesday, May 27, 2015 11:08 AM
 Subject: Re: [ADS-L] Antedating of "American" (Inhabitant of America, of European Descent)
   
Yes, John and Ben must be right in their reading of the 1595 citation.  The OED probably saw this quotation in Early English Books Online and rejected it.

Fred Shapiro



________________________________________
From: American Dialect Society [ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] on behalf of Ben Zimmer [bgzimmer at GMAIL.COM]
Sent: Wednesday, May 27, 2015 10:22 AM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: Antedating of "American" (Inhabitant of America, of European Descent)

John's explanation is far more plausible than the idea that someone
might be talking about "English Americans" more than a decade before
the settlement of Jamestown.

On Wed, May 27, 2015 at 10:08 AM, Baker, John <JBAKER at stradley.com> wrote:
>
> Does the larger context make it clear that the meaning is English-Americans?
>  Because a plausible reading is "The cold Finlanders once might visit Africans,
> The Spanish [might visit] Indians, the English [might visit] Americans,
> Without interpreters."
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of=
>  Shapiro, Fred
> Sent: Tuesday, May 26, 2015 7:20 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Antedating of "American" (Inhabitant of America, of European Desce=
> nt)
>
> American (OED, 2., 1648)
>
> 1595 Guillaume de Salluste Du Bartas _Babilon_ 23 (Early English Books Online)
>  The cold Finlanders once might visit Africans, The Spanish Indians, th'
>  English Americans, Without interpreters.

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