Negro

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1 In English
2 In other languages
3 Further reading
4 See also

Negro means "black" in the Spanish and Portuguese, being derived from the Latin word niger of the same meaning. It came in the English tongue through the Portuguese and Spanish slave trade. Prior to the 1970s, it was the dominant term for Black people of African origin; in the great majority of English-language contexts (except its inclusion in the names of some organizations founded when the term had currency, e.g. the United Negro College Fund), it is now considered either archaic or a slur in most contexts (see also nigger).

In English

Around 1442, the Portuguese began to enslave Africans in Portugal. The term negro, literally "black", was used by the Spanish and Portuguese to refer to dark-skinned people, especially indigenous Africans.

From the 18th century to the mid-20th century, "negro" (later capitalized) was considered the correct and proper English word for slaves and freed slaves of sub-Saharan African origin. It fell out of favor by the 1970s in the United States. In current English language usage, "Negro" generally is considered acceptable in a historical context or in the name of older organizations, as in the United Negro College Fund, and is used more commonly by those born before the post World War II baby boom.

Lyndon B. Johnson was the last American president to publicly refer to the African American population as Negroes, which, for much of his life, he pronounced "nig-ruhs", widely considered an insult by African Americans. Johnson learned, while running for president, to use a more generally acceptable pronunciation of the word and before he left office, he had begun to employ the word blacks, too.

The related word Negroid was used by 19th and 20th century anthropologists (ending variously in the mid-to-late 20th century) to refer to a race from some parts of Africa.

A specifically female form of the word—negress (sometimes capitalized) —was sometimes used; but, like another gender-specific word "Jewess", it has all but completely fallen from use. (An exception is its extremely unusual use in the titles of paintings, drawings[1] and sculptures,[2] largely as an allusion to the formerly common occurrence of the word in such titles, but such usage has dropped off dramatically.) Both are considered racist and sexist, although as with other racial, ethnic, and sexual words that are seen as pejoratives, some individuals have tried "reclaiming" the word. An example of this is artist Kara Walker. [3]

Sometimes African Americans use a variant of the term "negro" playfully among themselves (as in, "wassup negro!"), especially throughout the American South and other areas with a high percentage of African Americans. When used in such a manner, it is often in jest with the word pronounced, in an exaggerated fashion. Although this usage is similar to that of the word nigga, it generally is not considered offensive.

In other languages

The word has had a similar history in languages such as Italian. Neger in German had the same meaning.

In French, nègre was the word generally used in the 19th century and earlier times to describe black persons of African origin, or, sometimes, more specifically African slaves. However, it now considered as a racist word, and the word noir (literally, "black") is always used instead, except occasionally when specifically discussing slavery or colonialism, or when nègre is used as slang for ghost writer. Black (pronounced according to French rules, an instance of Franglais) is used colloquially.

In Spain, negro (note that ethnonyms are generally not capitalized in Romance languages) means "black person" in colloquial situations, but it can be considered derogatory in other situations. However, in Spanish language countries such as Argentina, Chile and Cuba, negro (negra for females) is commonly used to refer to friends or people in general, and does not have a racist connotation. For example, one may say to a friend, "Oye, negrito. ¿Como estás?" Literally, that translates as, "Hey, black man, how are you doin'?" Here, negro is used in its diminutive form negrito, as a term of endearment meaning "pal", or "buddy" or "friend." Negrito has come to be used to refer to a person of any ethnicity or color, and also can have a sentimental or romantic connotation similar to "sweetheart," or "dear" in English. (In the Philippines, Negrito was used for a local dark-skinned short person, living in the Negros islands among other places) In other Spanish-speaking South American countries, the word negro can also be employed in a roughly equivalent form, though it is not usually considered to be as widespread as in Argentina or Cuba (except perhaps in a limited regional and/or social context). In Cuba, moreno is used for a black person. In other parts of the world, like the Philippines, it just means "tanned" or "brunette".

In contemporary Portuguese, negro is the preferred polite term for black person. Preto has a similar meaning, but is less respectful. Each of the two words can designate the color black, or a black person. However, some Portuguese people and Portuguese-speaking Africans prefer the latter, possibly because preto is the most common antonym of branco (white), while negro can sound condescending, since it is a word generally associated with higher registers.

In the CIS countries the word негр (pronounced negr and derived from negro) commonly refers to somebody with the African ethnic roots. Because the majority of the population has seen such people only on television or in films, the word negr does not have any negative connotation. The direct translation of "black" (чёрный, pronounced chjornyj) can also refer nowadays to darker-skinned people from the southern regions of the former Soviet Union (Armenia, Georgia, Tajikistan, etc.); it is considered a racist insult in all cases. The word "colored" (цветной, pronounced cvetnoj) is also socially unacceptable in most layers of society. See also: Anti-national sentiment in Russia: Hostility towards Africans.

Controversy around the word "Negro" has spread to many languages, to a greater or lesser extent, because many have come to perceive the usage of any word similar to "Negro" with respect to black people in any language as an insult. Internationally, there is no definite consensus. While some argue that prevailing attitudes in English-speaking countries need not be taken into account when deciding what words people should use in other languages, others try to avoid using the cognates of English "Negro", having come to consider that they could be possibly offensive. Implementing this decision is not always easy, because in some languages the word for "black" is not considered to be a better alternative at all (in Russian чёрный (chornyi)) is a name for minorities like Chechens, in Estonian must also means "dirty", etc.) Other options are "dark skinned" or "African". However, many languages presently do not have any widely accepted alternatives to "Negro" that are more neutral or positive in its associations. Some Spanish-speaking people have adopted the term negrito or even azulito (the diminutive of azul, the color blue) instead of negro, to avoid the negative connotation of the word in English, especially around English speakers who do not speak Spanish.

Negro

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