[Ads-l] Help Sought on Antedatings of "Hispanic"

Sat Sep 3 05:29:14 UTC 2022

In 1941 show business publication “Variety” used the plural noun
hispanics to refer to Spanish speaking people in South America.

[ref] 1941 January 8, Variety, Radio: Invitation to Tango, Quote Page
99, Column 3, Los Angeles, California. (ProQuest) [/ref]

[Begin excerpt]
Don’t look now, but that man studying Spanish at the luncheon table is
an American broadcaster. After he learns to habla espagnol and how to
get ham and eggs when he orders ham and eggs he’ll be part of the U.
S. A. good will movement. Whatever else he may be, as he fumbles with
the Spanish dictionary and wonders if, according to native custom, he
now knows Don Jose well enough to embrace him when they meet, it must
be hard for anybody but a Nazi to see this faintly embarrassed Yankee
in the menacing role of a conquistador.

The worst thing that South Americans are reported to have said about
certain American broadcasters is that they are too business-like. They
rush the coffee and cigars. The Yankee good willers will have to get
into an easier tempo. Less haste, less bicarbonate of soda—to quote a
sage of Montevideo.

This is 1492 all over again. Anglo-Saxons are saying to Latins such
sappy things as ‘where have you been all our lives ?’ The hispanics
smile at this, not having been any place for 400 years. They have been
waiting to be introduced.
[End excerpt]

Garson

On Fri, Sep 2, 2022 at 10:23 PM ADSGarson O'Toole
<adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Interesting topic, Fred. Here is the definition for the noun Hispanic
> in the OED. The first citation in the OED is dated 1972 as mentioned
> by Fred.
>
> [Begin excerpt from OED]
> Hispanic,
> B. n.
> A Spanish-speaking person, esp. one of Latin-American descent, living
> in the U.S. Chiefly in plural.
> [End excerpt from OED]
>
> Here is an instance in 1916 of the plural noun Hispanics in a poem.
> The noun seems to mean people of Spain.
>
> [ref] 1916 February 12, The Daily Star-Mirror, Fashion Hints by
> Margaret Mason for United Press, Quote Page 2, Column 1, Moscow,
> Idaho. (GenealogyBank) [/ref]
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> FASHION HINTS
> The ladies, Lord love 'em, tis season would fain
> Dress just like the beauties in sunny old Spain;
> And so Yetta Goldstein and Mollie McShane
> And Gretchen Von Schmidt and Fifi Duquesne
> Are perfect Hispanics when not called by name.
> —Margaret Mason for United Press.
> [End excerpt]
>
> Here is an instance of the plural noun Hispanics in 1950. This seems
> to fit the common modern sense.
>
> [ref] 1950 July 11, The Denver Post, We Must Break Racial Bars by
> Ruben C. Valdez, Quote Page 12, Column 6, Denver, Colorado.
> (GenealogyBank) [/ref]
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> Now, the obvious intent of Communist proponents in this region is to
> form a coalition of Negroes, Jews, Hispanics, and if possible,
> orientals. Such a group would presumably be the nucleus for
> revolutionary tactics if the Reds were able to develop their campaign
> successfully.
> [End excerpt]
>
> Garson
>
> On Fri, Sep 2, 2022 at 9:04 AM Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu> wrote:
> >
> > In 2011 I made two postings on this list concerning early uses of the term "Hispanic."  I would welcome contributions of earlier citations for the adjective "Hispanic" in its older meaning and in its newer meaning.  I would also be interesting in pushing back early usage of the noun "Hispanic," which is dated 1972 by the OED.
> >
> > Fred Shapiro
> >
> >
> > ________________________________
> > From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
> > Sent: Sunday, March 27, 2011 6:06 PM
> > To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Subject: More on Antedating of "Hispanic"
> >
> > Here is a quick stab at an early citation for the old meaning of "Hispanic":
> >
> > 1867 _North American Review_ July 23 (JSTOR)  The invasion of the Barbarians may have found in the Hispanic and Gallic provinces a material to work upon very different from that which it encountered in the popular speech of Italy.
> >
> > Fred Shapiro
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > ________________________________________
> > From: American Dialect Society [ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of Shapiro, Fred [fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU]
> > Sent: Sunday, March 27, 2011 6:02 PM
> > To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> > Subject: Antedating of "Hispanic"
> >
> > Considering the importance and sensitivity of the adjective "Hispanic," it is surprising that the OED has gone so long with an inadequate entry for it.  The old meaning of the word ("Pertaining to Spain or its people") has no quotations in OED, and the new meaning ("Spanish-speaking, esp. applied to someone of Latin-American descent living in the United States") has a late dating of 1974 for the first use.
> >
> > I have not made a full-blown effort to push back the first use of the new meaning, but here is the earliest I have found in cursory research:
> >
> > 1960 _Chicago Defender_ 23 Jan. 11 (ProQuest Historical Newspapers)  NEW YORK -- Several hundred questionnaires have been mailed to all known Spanish-speaking organizations in the metropolitan area, as part of a "census" of such organizations and their leadership, conducted jointly by the Commission on Intergroup Relations, the Puerto Rican-Hispanic Leadership Forum and the Office of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
> >
> > Fred Shapiro
> >
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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