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Politics : Sharks in the Septic Tank
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To: Rambi who wrote (35616)10/26/2001 10:52:36 AM
From: thames_sider  Read Replies (1) of 82486
 
Rambi, I thought it was derived from the Latin - niger, meaning 'black'. English (here) is not usually derived from Spanish.
I'm sure I've seen the word 'nigger' used in some fairly old books, so it goes back some way - I don't think it had any more connotations then than skin colour, no overtones. Although of course most blacks in England before 1750 or so would likely have been slaves (most of our trade would have been via middlemen - Mediterranean or Arabs - rather than directly.).
Even after that, until ~1950 or so most blacks seen by all but the most-travelled would have been slaves, enemies or colonial subjects... so the word would probably become disrespectful anyhow.
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