[Ads-l] Antedating of "Cornbread"

[Dan Goncharoff]

Does it matter that "corn" in British English didn't mean corn, but grains
generally?
DanG


On Thu, Feb 5, 2026 at 11:24 AM Shapiro, Fred <
00001ac016895344-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:

> cornbread (OED 1775)
>
> 1719 Daniel Defoe The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson
> Crusoe 266 (Eighteenth Century Collections Online)  No, no, Friday tell
> them to live good, tell them to pray God, tell them to eat Corn-Bread,
> Cattle-Flesh, Milk, no eat Man again.
>
> 1737 Daily Gazetteer (London) 19 Oct. 2/1 (Newspapers.com)  Extract of a
> Letter, dated Maryland, 17 August 1737. ... Several of our People intend to
> send to England for Corn Bread; and the Apprehensions of wanting Increase
> every Hour, by the Continuance of the Drought and Coldness of the Weather,
> both of which are very bad for our Indian Corn, which is the chief Support
> of the poor People and our Slaves.
>
> Fred Shapiro
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

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