Where did the "N" word come from ? Is it based off of Nigeria ?

Question

I'm working off the coast of Nigeria and I wonderd if that's the country that it spawned from. I was curious if anyone had any thoughts / answers.

Answer 1

The Spanish word ***** originates from the Latin word niger, meaning black. In English, ***** or neger became negar and finally ******, most likely under influence of French nègre (also derived from the Latin niger).

In Colonial America, Neger (sometimes spelled "neggar") prevailed in northern New York under the Dutch and also in Philadelphia, in its Moravian and Pennsylvania Dutch communities. For example, the African Burial Ground in New York City was originally known as "Begraaf Plaats van de Neger."

In the United States, the word ****** was not always considered derogatory, but was instead used by some as merely denotative of black, as it was in other parts of the English-speaking world. In nineteenth-century literature, there are many uses of the word ****** with no intended negative connotation. Charles Dickens, and Joseph Conrad (who published The ****** of the 'Narcissus' in 1897) used the word without racist intent. Mark Twain often put the word into the mouths of his Southern characters, white and black, but did not use the word when speaking in his own voice in his autobiographical Life on the Mississippi.

In the United Kingdom and other parts of the English-speaking world, the word was often used to refer to people of Pakistani or Indian descent, or merely to darker-skinned foreigners in general; in his 1926 Modern English Usage, H. W. Fowler observed that when the word was applied to "others than full or partial negroes," it was "felt as an insult by the person described, & betrays in the speaker, if not deliberate insolence, at least a very arrogant inhumanity." The note was excised from later editions of the book.

In the 1800s, as ****** began to acquire the pejorative connotation it holds today, the term "Colored" gained popularity as a kinder alternative to ***** and associated terms. For example, abolitionists in Boston, Massachusetts posted warnings to "Colored People of Boston and vicinity." The name of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People reflects the preference for this term at the time of the NAACP's founding in 1909.

Southern dialect in many parts of the southern United States changes the pronunciation of "*****" to "nigra" (used most famously by Lyndon B. Johnson, a proponent of civil rights).

Black became the preferred term in English in the late 1960s, and this continues to the present day. In the United States this has been displaced to some extent by African American, at least in politically correct usage; this resembles the term Afro-American that was in vogue in the early 1970s. Nevertheless, black continues in widespread use as a racial designation in the United States and is rarely regarded as offensive.

Today the word is often spelled ***** or ******, in imitation of the manner in which some pronounce it. (Less-common variants are nigguh or even nikuh.) Other variations, designed to avoid the term itself, include nookah, nukka, ****** and the much older "jigger."

Answer 2

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RE:
Where did the "N" word come from ? Is it based off of Nigeria ?
I'm working off the coast of Nigeria and I wonderd if that's the country that it spawned from. I was curious if anyone had any thoughts / answers.

Answer 3

I beleve the N word comes from the lazy speech of southerners Nigeria comes from the niger river and area the ger is pronounced like jer in jersey And so since the black slaves where called the N word it has become offensive and to be honest with you I really also hate the word ***** and I hate that Afro-Americans are calling each other that it just sounds awful why cant they just call each other Afros or something that dosnt sound like the N word

Answer 4

It's a Greek word that means black but it was attibuted to Nubians across the world in due time. It's even found in the Bible.

Act 13:1 Now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers; as Barnabas, and Simeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen, which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.


New Testament (Greek)
3526 Niger {neeg'-er} niger
Lexicon Results for Niger (Strong's 3526)
Greek for 3526

Pronunciation Guide
Niger {neeg'-er}

This is the earliest record of the word found.

Answer 5

yeah I would have to say know I am Nigerian and would know such things I have to say it probably came from Spanish for black *****. I will say though that slaves we bought from Nigeria during that horrible period all before Nigeria was a country called Nigeria. Maybe you can research on line for the origin of the word.

Answer 6

I think its only around and used because of the identity and controversy over what to call blacks. I think that if they had always been called blacks, then there wouldn't be any slang. I also think it is mostly still used by people still confused about what to say after being told it was right to call people one thing one day and then wrong its something else later.

Answer 7

Usages: The word ****** has had strong offensive connotations since the 17th century. Recently, however, it has begun to be used by black people as a mildly disparaging or ironically affectionate way of referring to other black people. Despite this, when used by white people it remains strongly offensive, and should be avoided.

ORIGIN: from Spanish ***** 'black'.

Answer 8

A wise man once told me it comes from ***** which comes from Necro which is what the Greeks would call the Africans because they would talk to dead spirits

Answer 9

The first thing that comes to my mind is the niger thistle I feed the goldfinches! They love that thistle!

Answer 10

The "N" word came from the spanish word *****, which means black. So blacks in early america were called ***** and lazy white people would pronounce it "nigruh" and I believe it developed into the "n" word from there.