Etymograph

English

negro

Negro comes from es,pt negro ‘black’, and goes back to Latin nigrum.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEnigrum‘shiny black’
  2. es,ptmodernnegro‘black’
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1864same form

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Earlier history uncertain.

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEnigrum‘shiny black’
  2. es,ptmodernnegro‘black’
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1864same form

Earliest quotation: 1864, William Tecumseh Sherman: “We don't want your Negroes, or your horses, or…”

The story

Borrowed from Spanish and Portuguese negro (‘black’), from Latin nigrum (‘shiny black’), of uncertain origin, but possibly from Proto-Indo-European *negʷ- (‘bare; night’).uncertain The source flags this step as uncertain.

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *negʷ- ‘bare’

night, naked, nude, gymnastics, noir, nigger, nocturnal, gymnasium, actin, gymnast, naga, nox, denigrate, nocturne, nigella, nudism, 51 more

Today it means

adj Relating to a black ethnicity.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Latin nigrum / negro

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