[Ads-l] Brer Rabbit: Eggcorn and Antedating

[Z Sohna]

*"Here is an excerpt from a slightly earlier magazine article that used the
spelling "Buh""*

The above quote and the replies seem to suggest that the Native Black
American *buh* is derived from "brother" (and its related forms "brer",
"bruh", "breh", etc).

However, I posit that the Native Black American term of address *ba / bó*
and it's offshoots "buh", "bi", and so on, are of African origin -
ultimately derived from the Vai *bo* 'friend', 'fellow', 'companion',
'comrade' (Koelle 1854, 149) and other identical or similar forms employed
as terms of address throughout the Mande languages.

Regarding the Mande / Vai origin of the Native Black American *bo / ba
*'friend',
'comrade', it should be noted that in Lorenzo Dow Turner's Africanisms in
the Gullah Dialect, all of the words that occur in the "Stories, Songs, and
Prayers" section are derived from the Mande languages - nearly all of them
derived from Mende and Vai.

Furthermore, as it pertains to Gullah, Albert Stoddard - born in Savannah,
Georgia - recorded himself reciting traditional tales in Gullah for "Animal
Tales Told in the Gullah Dialect", where he used *ba* or "buh". The
recordings can be heard at the following link:
https://archive.org/details/lp_animal-tales-told-in-the-gullah-dialect_albert-h-stoddard-duncan-emrich_1/disc1/01.02.+Buh+Rabbit+And+Buh+Wolf+Go+Hunting.mp3

Priscilla Jaquith published the collection with "bo", for the book "Bo
Rabbit Smart For True: Tall Tales from the Gullah", which can be accessed
at the following link:
https://archive.org/details/borabbitsmartfor0000jaqu_f3j2

In the same tales, I know the characters as  "Bó Rabbit", "Bó Kúda", and so
on, with the "o" pronounced much like the "oe" in the English "doe", or
like the "aw" in the English "saw".

Bó and Ba is still current among the Native Black American population -
I've even heard it in Texas among both young and adult speakers as a term
of address between equals. However, for clarity, I should state that I have
witnessed this word in some form wherever the aforementioned ethnic group
has lived in any significant number.

In an interesting example of its currency, it also occurs in a highly
publicized recording featured on 20/20 in which the speaker on the
recording shouts: "Bó, you fuckin smilin like it's fuckin funny!! [...] My
fuckin girlfriend gone, bó!"  Source:
https://youtu.be/yMYQIp3Y2uA?feature=shared&t=49  In this case, the speaker
is not Black, but his grammar demonstrates Native Black American influence:
"you smilin" instead of "you're smiling"/"you are smiling"; "My [...]
girlfriend gone" instead of "My [...] girlfriend's /girlfriend is gone".
The incident depicted in the clip occurred in South Carolina.

The onscreen transcription in the aforementioned clip does not properly
reflect what the speaker is actually stating in the recording. The
transcription is "auto-corrected" to suit General American English
sensibilities, but does not reflect the words or grammar the speaker is
using. I believe that the very same transcription was used in the original
20/20 episode, but I cannot be certain. I do recall being sent the original
clip, and thinking to myself that the onscreen transcription was not
accurate.

Sources:

Koelle, Sigismund W. Outlines of a grammar of the Vei language,  together
with a Vei-English vocabulary. And an account of the discovery and nature
of the Vei mode of syllabic writing. London: Church Missionary House,
Salisbury Square, 1854.

On Mon, Oct 23, 2023 at 9:27 PM Baker, John <
000014a9c79c3f97-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:

> Brer Rabbit, an anthropomorphic rabbit trickster, is the central character
> in the African-American tales retold by Joel Chandler Harris, who
> attributed them to the fictional Uncle Remus.  "Brer," in these stories, is
> a shortening of "Brother," a title of respect and also applied to the other
> animals in the tales.  It is often spelled "Br'er," but the Brer spelling
> appears to be older and is the spelling used by the OED.  By far the most
> famous such story is that of Brer Rabbit and the Tar Baby, in which Brer
> Rabbit convinces Brer Fox and Brer Bear to kill him by throwing him in the
> briar patch.
>
> I recently came across the eggcorn spelling Briar Rabbit, from someone who
> knew the stories only from oral accounts.  It does have a logic to it,
> although I suppose it might have been more difficult for Brer Rabbit to
> convince Brer Fox and Brer Bear if "briar" were actually part of his name.
> Of course, the Tar Baby story is only one of many Brer Rabbit stories, and
> the others have nothing to do with briar patches.
>
> Although the characters and this particular story are closely associated
> with Joel Chandler Harris, he invented neither the characters nor the story
> (although the spelling "Brer" appears to be Harris's).  The OED has a
> Harris story, published in the Atlanta Daily Constitution on March 28,
> 1878, as the earliest use of "Brer."  Here is an excerpt from a slightly
> earlier magazine article that used the spelling "Buh":
>
> "The _dramatis personae_ are always honored with the title of _Buh_, which
> is generally supposed to be an abbreviation of the word "brother" (the _br_
> being sounded without the whir of the _r_), but it probably is a title of
> respect equivalent to our Mr.  The animals which figure in the stories are
> chiefly Buh Rabbit, Buh Lion, Buh Wolf and Buh Deer, though sometimes we
> hear of Buh Elephant, Buh Fox, Buh Cooter and Buh Goose.  . . . Of the Buh
> fables, that which is by all odds the greatest favorite, and which appears
> in the greatest variety of forms, is the "Story of Buh Rabbit and the Tar
> Baby.""
>
>
> William Owens, "Folk-Lore of the Southern Negroes," Lippincott's Magazine,
> Vol. 20, pp. 748 - 55, at 749 - 50 (Dec. 1877).  The article includes a
> detailed recounting of the Tar Baby story, in different form from that of
> the version by Harris.
>
>
> John Baker
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org