[Ads-l] filibuster (1846 etc.)

[Ben Zimmer]

On Sun, Sep 27, 2020 at 5:28 PM James Landau <
00000c13e57d49b8-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:

> On  Sat, 26 Sep 2020 12:57:21 Zone-0400  Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at GMAIL.COM>
> wrote
>
> <quote>
> OED2's entry for "filibuster" has early versions of the word related to
> Dutch "vrijbuiter" and the French form "flibustier." The entry suggests
> that the spelling "filibuster," based on Spanish "filibustero," first came
> into English usage to denote (as per sense 2b) "a member of any of those
> bands of adventurers who between 1850 and 1860 organized expeditions from
> the United States, in violation of international law, for the purpose of
> revolutionizing certain states in Central America and the Spanish West
> Indies."
> <end quote>
> Filibusters, although they may not have acquired that name yet, antedate
> 1850, e.g. William Walker who invaded and gained control of Nicaragua
> in1846.
> Interesting usage: "revolutionizing".  A better word would be "conquering"
> as the usual motive for filibusters was to permanently retain the Central
> American/West Indies territories and bring them into the United States as
> new slave states.
>

I believe William Walker's invasion of Nicaragua was in 1855-56, not 1846.

--bgz

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