[Ads-l] Antedating of "Brer"

[Shapiro, Fred]

Brer (OED 1878)

1877 Daily Constitution (Atlanta) 21 Nov. 2/2 (Newspapers.com)

The real southern darkey pronounces the word ["Buh"] as though it were written "brer," and he confines its use to the animals themselves — for instance: "Den bimeby, Mr. Fox, he see Mr. Rabbit comin' 'long, an' he say, 'howdy, Brer Rabbit — how you 'gittin' 'long these days?"  It is unquestionably a contraction of the word "brother."

NOTE:  This occurred in a review of the December issue of Lippincott's Magazine, presumably written by Joel Chandler Harris.  Harris was a white journalist who went on to great fame as the author of the "Brer Rabbit" stories adapted from African American folklore.  The passage above with the word "Brer" must have appeared earliest in time in Lippincott's but the issue dating of the Lippincott's issue was later than November 21.  "Buh" is documented by the OED as far back as 1866.  Garson O'Toole has found "B'r" in Harper's New Monthly Magazine, April 1867.

Fred Shapiro

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