White Noises, Man or Men
What is the earliest printed use in English, including relevant context, of 'white man' or 'white men'? As nearly as I have been able to discover, the term is first found in print in these contexts:
'white men' appeared first in John of Trevisa's translation of Angelicus Bartholomaeus's De proprietatibus rerum. Dates are uncertain, but OED dates the translation to sometime before 1398. The composition date of the original work in Latin was probably sometime before 1240. As published in 1582, the context clearly ascribes the color of people's skin to climate and geographical place of birth:
Also colde is the mother of whitenesse and of palenesse, as heate is the mother of rednesse and of blacknesse. And so in hot Countryes blacke men and browne bée borne, as among the Moores. In colde Countryes white men bée borne. Wherby we may see howe vainely mankynde wandereth in his owne blynd∣nesse. The Ethiopian thincketh the blacke colour to be fayrer then the white: And the white man thinketh otherwise.
'white man' also shows up first in a translation from Latin. The translation of Peter Martyr of Angleria's The decades of the newe worlde or west India conteynyng the nauigations and conquestes of the Spanyardes by Rycharde Eden, published in 1555 but presumably written prior to the author's death in 1526, also presumes upon the name of a geographic location ("Ethiopia" at the time, however, was used in a broader sense than it is now) used in a sense associating skin color with that location (a "black or dark-skinned person", OED paywalled):
Wherby we may see howe vainely mankynde wandereth in his owne blyndnesse. The Ethiopian thincketh the blacke colour to be fayrer then the white: And the white man thinketh otherwise.
etymology racism
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What is the earliest printed use in English, including relevant context, of 'white man' or 'white men'? As nearly as I have been able to discover, the term is first found in print in these contexts:
'white men' appeared first in John of Trevisa's translation of Angelicus Bartholomaeus's De proprietatibus rerum. Dates are uncertain, but OED dates the translation to sometime before 1398. The composition date of the original work in Latin was probably sometime before 1240. As published in 1582, the context clearly ascribes the color of people's skin to climate and geographical place of birth:
Also colde is the mother of whitenesse and of palenesse, as heate is the mother of rednesse and of blacknesse. And so in hot Countryes blacke men and browne bée borne, as among the Moores. In colde Countryes white men bée borne. Wherby we may see howe vainely mankynde wandereth in his owne blynd∣nesse. The Ethiopian thincketh the blacke colour to be fayrer then the white: And the white man thinketh otherwise.
'white man' also shows up first in a translation from Latin. The translation of Peter Martyr of Angleria's The decades of the newe worlde or west India conteynyng the nauigations and conquestes of the Spanyardes by Rycharde Eden, published in 1555 but presumably written prior to the author's death in 1526, also presumes upon the name of a geographic location ("Ethiopia" at the time, however, was used in a broader sense than it is now) used in a sense associating skin color with that location (a "black or dark-skinned person", OED paywalled):
Wherby we may see howe vainely mankynde wandereth in his owne blyndnesse. The Ethiopian thincketh the blacke colour to be fayrer then the white: And the white man thinketh otherwise.
etymology racism
add a comment |
What is the earliest printed use in English, including relevant context, of 'white man' or 'white men'? As nearly as I have been able to discover, the term is first found in print in these contexts:
'white men' appeared first in John of Trevisa's translation of Angelicus Bartholomaeus's De proprietatibus rerum. Dates are uncertain, but OED dates the translation to sometime before 1398. The composition date of the original work in Latin was probably sometime before 1240. As published in 1582, the context clearly ascribes the color of people's skin to climate and geographical place of birth:
Also colde is the mother of whitenesse and of palenesse, as heate is the mother of rednesse and of blacknesse. And so in hot Countryes blacke men and browne bée borne, as among the Moores. In colde Countryes white men bée borne. Wherby we may see howe vainely mankynde wandereth in his owne blynd∣nesse. The Ethiopian thincketh the blacke colour to be fayrer then the white: And the white man thinketh otherwise.
'white man' also shows up first in a translation from Latin. The translation of Peter Martyr of Angleria's The decades of the newe worlde or west India conteynyng the nauigations and conquestes of the Spanyardes by Rycharde Eden, published in 1555 but presumably written prior to the author's death in 1526, also presumes upon the name of a geographic location ("Ethiopia" at the time, however, was used in a broader sense than it is now) used in a sense associating skin color with that location (a "black or dark-skinned person", OED paywalled):
Wherby we may see howe vainely mankynde wandereth in his owne blyndnesse. The Ethiopian thincketh the blacke colour to be fayrer then the white: And the white man thinketh otherwise.
etymology racism
What is the earliest printed use in English, including relevant context, of 'white man' or 'white men'? As nearly as I have been able to discover, the term is first found in print in these contexts:
'white men' appeared first in John of Trevisa's translation of Angelicus Bartholomaeus's De proprietatibus rerum. Dates are uncertain, but OED dates the translation to sometime before 1398. The composition date of the original work in Latin was probably sometime before 1240. As published in 1582, the context clearly ascribes the color of people's skin to climate and geographical place of birth:
Also colde is the mother of whitenesse and of palenesse, as heate is the mother of rednesse and of blacknesse. And so in hot Countryes blacke men and browne bée borne, as among the Moores. In colde Countryes white men bée borne. Wherby we may see howe vainely mankynde wandereth in his owne blynd∣nesse. The Ethiopian thincketh the blacke colour to be fayrer then the white: And the white man thinketh otherwise.
'white man' also shows up first in a translation from Latin. The translation of Peter Martyr of Angleria's The decades of the newe worlde or west India conteynyng the nauigations and conquestes of the Spanyardes by Rycharde Eden, published in 1555 but presumably written prior to the author's death in 1526, also presumes upon the name of a geographic location ("Ethiopia" at the time, however, was used in a broader sense than it is now) used in a sense associating skin color with that location (a "black or dark-skinned person", OED paywalled):
Wherby we may see howe vainely mankynde wandereth in his owne blyndnesse. The Ethiopian thincketh the blacke colour to be fayrer then the white: And the white man thinketh otherwise.
etymology racism
etymology racism
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JELJEL
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