Re: [tied] "Niggers of India"

Daniel J. Milton wrote:

> Patrick, explain your interpretation of <niger> ("etym. dub." in
> the references I have handy).
> For a start, is there any reason to believe that the word
> primarily referred to persons, dark or thin-haired? The adjective
> seems to have gone with dark skies, woods, plants, etc. just as readily.

It means 'black' or 'dusky, gloomy, mournful, unlucky, bad...', and
almost always refers to "other things" rather than humans (except when
used as a surname). It is often contrasted with <albus> or <candidus>
(never with, say, <pilo:sus> or <villo:sus>) and treated as a synonym of
<ater> or <umbro:sus>. As for its derivatives, see <nigror> 'blackness',
<nigresco:> 'turn black, grow dark', etc. Surely, <nigrescentes dentes>
means 'teeth going black', not *'teeth losing hair'.

Piotr