Ku Klux Klan

1872 drawing of three Mississippi Ku Klux Klan members arrested in September 1871 for attempted murder. Drawing of three hooded men posing with pistols in their hands. The caption reads: “Mississippi Ku-Klux in the Disguises in Which They Were Captu…

1872 drawing of three Mississippi Ku Klux Klan members arrested in September 1871 for attempted murder. Drawing of three hooded men posing with pistols in their hands. The caption reads: “Mississippi Ku-Klux in the Disguises in Which They Were Captured. (From a Photograph.)”

2 April 2021

The Ku Klux Klan is a white supremacist, terrorist organization in the United States. Originally founded in 1866, it has gone through three distinct periods of existence. The first Klan, formed to overthrow Republican governments that included Black legislators and officials in the southern states lasted into the early 1870s, when it was suppressed by the U.S. Army. The Klan was renewed in 1915, during the establishment of Jim Crow laws and the cementing of the “lost cause” myth of Confederate defeat in the Civil War. This second incarnation of the Klan was immensely popular, growing to some 4–5 million members in 1925—about 15% of the white, male population of the United States. It rapidly declined in the late 1920s but re-emerged in the 1950s as a violent response to the Civil Rights movement.

The name Ku Klux Klan comes from the Greek κύκλος (kuklos) meaning circle, with Klan added for alliteration. The imagery of a circle is often employed in conspiratorial enterprises (e.g., ringleader). The naming of the Klan is described in John C. Lester and D. L. Wilson’s 1884 history of the organization. Lester was one of the six founding members of the Klan, and in addition to detailing how the name was chosen, he also opines how the name was a fortuitous choice, adding to the organization’s mystery and appeal. Note also that Lester writes in the third person, distancing himself from his role as a terrorist ringleader:

The committee appointed to select a name reported that they had found the task difficult, and had not made a selection. They explained that they had been trying to discover or invent a name which would be, to some extent, suggestive of the character and objects of the society. They mentioned several which they had been considering. In this number was the name “Kukloi” from the Greek word Kuklos (Kuklos), meaning a band or circle. At mention of this some one cried out: “Call it Ku Klux.” “Klan” at once suggested itself, and was added to complete the alliteration. So instead of adopting a name, as was the first intention, which had a definite meaning, they chose one which to the proposer of it, and to every one else, was absolutely meaningless.

Had they called themselves the “Jolly Jokers” or the “Adelphi,” or by some similar appellation, the organization would doubtless have had no more than the mere local and ephemeral existence, which those who organized it contemplated for it. Hundreds of societies have originated just as this one did, and after a brief existence, have passed away. But in this case there was a wierd [sic] potency in the very name Ku Klux Klan. Let the reader pronounce it aloud. The sound of it is suggestive of bones rattling together! The potency of the name was not wholly in the impression made by it on the general public. It is a singular fact that the members of the Klan were themselves the first to feel its wierd [sic] influence; they had adopted a mysterious name. Thereupon the original plan was modified so as to make everything connected with the order harmonize with the name. Amusement was still the end in view. But now the method by which pose to win it were those of secrecy and mystery.

The organization started in Pulaski, Tennessee in May 1866 in response to the recent race riot in Memphis. Another of the founders was Frank McCord, editor of the Pulaski Citizen, and the author of the first appearances of the name Ku Klux Klan in print. McCord published the following on 29 March 1867 in the Citizen. The bit about the note being found under the door and the inquisitive tone of the piece are fictions:

What Does it Mean?—The following mysterious “Take Notice” was found under our door early yesterday morning, having doubtless been slipped there the night previous. Will any one venture to tell us what it means, if it means anything at all? What is a “Kuklux Klan,” and who is this “Grand Cyclops” that issues his mysterious and imperative orders? Can any one give us a little light on this subject? Here is the order:

“Take Notice.—The Kuklux Klan will assemble at their usual place of rendezvous, “The Den,” on Tuesday night next, exactly at the hour of midnight, in costume and bearing the arms of the Klan.

“By or of the Grand Cyclops

G. T.”

In subsequent articles, McCord described fictional visits by Klan officials to his office, such as this one published in the Pulaski Citizen on 26 April 1867:

Kuklux Klan.

The Grand Turk of the Klu Klux Klan favored us with another visit last Wednesday night, though we don’t think he was the same one who called on us last week. We measured him good with our eye, and don’t think he was over seven and a half feet high, maybe eight. We still hold that the other one was nine, and we won’t fall “narry snake.” This one was dressed entirely different, having on a flashy suit of scarlet velvet—roundabout and knee-breeches, and had the banner of the Klan partially wrapped around him. The banner seemed to be made of crimson silk, with numerous devices, and had “Kuklux Klan” worked or painted upon it in gold. There being several in our sanctum, the Grand Turk, after delivering the order published below, said he desired a private interview, and pointed to the door. We hesitated. What could he want with us? We decided not to go, but he waved his “concern” at us, and we followed. Now, thought we, surely we will be inducted into some of the mysteries of the Klan. He stopped at the door, and bending his majestic form, said in low, deep and measured tones: “The Grand Turk brings a message from the Grand Cyclops. Be silent that you may hear. Be discreet: Nix-cum-a-r-o-u-s-c-h!” We said, “Yaw, got for dam,” but when we looked up to see what effect this intelligent and emphatic reply had upon him, he had disappeared as noiselessly as a graveyard. For the life of us we couldn’t tell which way he went. Don’t much believe he went anywhere, but just disappeared.—But we know he was here by the following order, which he left in our hands:

Rendezvous in the Forest,
April 24th, 1867.

The officers and members of the “Kuklux Klan” will assemble at an earlier hour, Saturday night, as business of more than usual interest will be transacted which will consume some time, and the Grand Cyclops is unwilling to encroach on the Holy Sabbath, by transacting business after 12 o’clock. The members of the “Klan” having become so numerous, our former place of holding meetings will have to be abandoned and a place selected that will afford more accommodation, and, as the weather is becoming more pleasant, the Klan” will assemble at the above named rendezvous until further orders.

The members will be prompt in attending all meetings, at the hour that may be designated by the Grand Turk.

By order of the Grand Cyclops

G. S.

Given McCord’s position as one of the founders of the Klan, these are clearly recruitment and meeting notices. The fictional visitors add a mythic tone and provide McCord with plausible deniability in case the U.S. Army investigated him. Decades later, McCord would admit to these fabrications. From the Pulaski Citizen of 18 December 1892 (again, take note of the resort to the third person):

I will only add that nearly all the BLOOD AND THUNDER proclamations and general orders issued in circular form or printed in the columns of THE CITIZEN when the order was in its incipient form and before it had assumed political significations, originated in the brain and were written by the Faber of the then editor of THE CITIZEN, solely for fun and sensational effect. What editor, pray tell me, imbued with the least journalistic enterprise, would have failed to take advantage of the circumstances and enlivened his cou[rse] with these sensational fulminations? Would you? This is my excuse and defense.

Some histories of the Klan claim that the organization was innocently founded for social purposes and was only later diverted to violent purposes. While it seems that some of the early activities of the Klan were indeed social—those early gatherings in the woods often included music and dancing—the claims of early innocence are based on the testimony of early members given many years later; men who had every reason to lie and deny violent and racist intentions. And the threatening tone of McCord’s early announcements belies any innocent purpose. Certainly by late 1867, only months after the organization was founded, the Klan was identified by the Army as a terrorist organization. From a report by Brigadier General Joseph A. Cooper, commander of the Tennessee State Guards:

Entire tranquillity [sic] has not yet been restored to society in Tennessee. Disorders are reported from time to time which are popularly attributed to the exploits of an organization known as the “Ku-klux Klan,” which exists in this and neighboring States.

It’s often the case that one should not take the claims about the coinage of words at face value, even from those who actually coined the terms. But seldom does one see such blatant attempts to rewrite such a dark chapter in history and place the participants in a better light.

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Sources:

Cooper, Joseph A. (2 October 1867). “T: Circular, No. 10. General Orders, Kb. 11 Special Orders, No. 105 Special Orders, So. 111.”  The American Annual Cyclopedia and Register of Important Events of the Year ... (1861-1873), vol. 7 of 13 for 1967. ProQuest Magazines.

“Kuklux Klan.” Pulaski Citizen, 26 April 1867, 3. Library of Congress: Chronicling America, Historic American Newspapers.

Lester, J. C. and D. L. Wilson. Ku Klux Klan. Its Origin, Growth and Disbandment. Nashville: Wheeler, Osborn & Duckworth, 1884, 13–15. HathiTrust Digital Archive.

Oxford English Dictionary, second edition, 1989, s.v. Ku-Klux, n, Klan, n., Kluxer, n.

Parsons, Elaine Frantz. Ku-Klux: The Birth of the Klan During Reconstruction. Chapel Hill: U of North Carolina Press, 2016, 27, 29–30.

Pulaski Citizen (Tennessee), 29 March 1867, 3. Library of Congress: Chronicling America, Historic American Newspapers.

Image credit: Harper’s Weekly, 27 January 1872, 1. Public domain image.

April fool

“Les Poissons D’Avril,” by Grandville (a.k.a. Jean Ignace Isidore Gérard), 1868. Image of fish fishing for people, using wine, tobacco, jewelry, etc. for bait. The caption reads: “Poissons d’avril, poissons de tous les mois, de tous les temps, de to…

“Les Poissons D’Avril,” by Grandville (a.k.a. Jean Ignace Isidore Gérard), 1868. Image of fish fishing for people, using wine, tobacco, jewelry, etc. for bait. The caption reads:

“Poissons d’avril, poissons de tous les mois, de tous les temps, de tous les âges: on aura beau être trompé aux appâts que vous nous tendez, on s’y laissera reprendre jusqu’à la fin—et trop heureux!”

(April fish, fish for all the months, for all time, for all the ages: one could easily be fooled by the bait you lure us with, but we will let it go on until the end—all too happily!)

1 April 2021

No one knows for sure why April, and in particular the first of April, is associated with the playing of pranks on unsuspecting dupes, but the tradition seems to have evolved from the long association between love and springtime—the initial association was with those who have been made foolish because of love or lust. The practice of playing pranks in April, and specifically on April First, appears to have arisen on the European continent and was imported into Britain in the seventeenth century.

In French, the phrase poisson d’avril means April fool (literally April fish). The earliest known use of the phrase is in a 1508 poem by French poet Eloy d’Amerval titled Le Livre de la Deablerie, lines 325–27:

Houlier, putier, macquereau infame
De maint homme et de mainte fame,
Poisson d’apvril, vien tost a moy!

(Debauched man, base man, infamous pimp
Of many men and many women,
Fish of April, soon to be mine!)

Amerval is punning here. Macquereau is slang for pimp, but it literally means mackerel, hence the April fish. In the sixteenth century the phrase, perhaps because of this poem, came to mean a go-between or procurer. It wasn’t until the eighteenth century that poisson d’avril came to mean the butt of a springtime prank.

The German phrase jemanden in den April schicken, meaning to play a trick on someone on April first, dates to 1645.

The earliest use of April fool in English is attested to a bit earlier than the German phrase, though, and appears in Edmund Lechmere’s 1629 A Disputation of the Church, in which he describes how his argument grew from a short treatise to an entire volume:

TO one, of the two papers which you had from me long agoe, you haue shaped, as it seemeth, a kind of answere; yet not an answere neither, for you send him that would haue one, to looke it in other men that are in print. For my part, I was not willing at the sight of yours (which I espied by meere chaunce, and neuer sawe but once) to be made an Aprill foole, and therefore would not be so farre at your commaund. Yet to declare that I was not satisfied, Presumed the chiefe question, out of which the rest are easilie resolued; and disputed it more at large: putting downe the conclusions together with their grounds; and maintaining them against that which your self, or your abettors haue obiected. I endeuoured to do this briefly; but it so fared with me in this intellectuall businesse, as it doth with such as breede: the child in the natiuitie is much bigger then at the conception: the matter I speake of heere, hath an inward inclination to dilate it self, and whilst I was writing, the discourse prooued a booke.

A reference to April Fool’s pranks can be found in Charles Cotton’s 1684 The Scoffer Scoffed. In the following passage, a translation of one of Lucian’s dialogues, Diogenes is sending Pollux to find Menippus, the cynic and satirist, and Pollux questions whether or not he is the butt of an April Fool’s prank, specifically a purposeless errand or wild goose chase or snipe hunt:

Pray sir don't make of me a Tool,
And send me like an April Fool,
But tell me now before I go,
By what mark I the Spark shall know?

The association specifically with April First is in place by 1686 when it appears in antiquarian John Aubrey’s book Remaines of Gentilisme and Judaisme. The Latin quotations are from Book 2 of Ovid’s Fasti (Almanacs) a poem about the Roman calendar. The lines from Ovid, however, are in reference to 17 February, and are about people making fools of themselves by letting their fire from their burnt offerings to the gods destroy their homes:

Fooles holy day.

We observe it on ye first of April.

Lux quoq’ cur eadem stultorum festa vocetur.....
Farra tamen veteres jaciebant, farra metebant;
     Primitias Cereri farra resecta dabant.

And so it is kept in Germany everywhere.

Nam modo verrebant nigras pro farre favillas;
     Nunc ipsas igni corripuere casas.

The Latin translates as:

(And likewise that is why the day is called the feast-day of fools.....
Yet the ancients sowed grain, reaped grain;
      They surrendered to Ceres the first fruits, the harvested grain.)

And

(Sometimes they swept up blackened ashes instead of grain;
     When their homes themselves caught fire.)

Not only does Aubrey associate the early modern practices of 1 April with Roman practices of a different date, but there is no evidence that the practices of April Fools Day date to ancient times.

William Congreve’s 1693 play The Old Batchelour conflates the earlier ideas of one being made foolish by love and a purposeless errand, a prank. This conversation between the characters Sharper, Bellmour, and Heartwell is about the character Vainlove, who foolishly searches for love but never finds it:

Sharp.  And here comes one who Swears as heartily he hates all the Sex.

Enter Heartwell.

Bell.  Who Heartwell! Ay, but he knows better things——How now George, where hast thou been snarling odious Truths, and entertaining company like a Physician, with discourse of their diseases and infirmities? What fine Lady hast thou been putting out of conceit with her self, and perswading that the Face she had been making all the morning wos none of her own? for I know thou art as unmannerly and as unwelcome to a Woman, as a Looking-glass after the Small-pox.

Heart.  I confess I have not been sneering fulsome Lies and nauseous Flattery, fawning upon a little tawdry Whore, that will fawn upon me again, and entertain any Puppy that comes; like a Tumbler with the same tricks over and over. For such I guess may have been your late employment.

Bell.  Would thou hadst come a little sooner, Vainlove would have wrought thy Conversion and been a Champion for the Cause.

Heart.  What, has he been here? that's one of Loves April-fools, is always upon some errand that's to no purpose, ever embarking in Adventures, yet never comes to harbour.

Joseph Addison gives a fuller description of April Fools in his The Spectator of 24 April 1711, but he doesn’t use the phrase April Fool’s Day:

IN the first Place I must observe, that there is a Set of merry Drolls, whom the common People of all Countries admire, and seem to love so well, that they could eat them, according to the old Proverb: I mean those circumforaneous Wits whom every nation calls by the Name of that Dish of Meat which it loves best. In Holland they are termed Pickled Herrings; in France, Jean Pottages; in Italy, Maccaronies; and in Great Britain, Jack Puddings. These merry Wags, from whatsoever Food they receive their Titles, that they may make their Audiences laugh, always appear in a Fool’s Coat, and commit such Blunders and Mistakes in every Step they take, and every Word they utter, as those who listen to them would be ashamed of.

BUT this little Triumph of the Understanding, under the Disguise of Laughter, is no where more visible than in that Custom which prevails every where among us on the First Day of the present Month, when every Body takes it in his Head to make as many Fools as he can. In proportion as there are more Follies discovered, so there is more laughter raised on this Day than on any other in the whole Year. A Neighbour of mine, who is a Haberdasher, and a very shallow conceited Fellow, makes his Boasts that for these Ten Years successivly he has not made less than an Hundred April Fools. My Landlady, had a falling out with him about a Fortnight ago, for sending every one of her Children upon some Sleeveless Errand, as she terms it. Her eldest Son went to buy an Half-penny worth of Inkle at a Shoemaker’s; the eldest Daughter was dispatched half a Mile to see a Monster; and in short, the whole Family of innocent Children made April fools. Nay, my Landlady her self did not escape him. This empty Fellow has laughed upon these Conceits ever since.

THIS art of Wit is well enough, when confined to one Day in a Twelve-month; But there is an ingenious Tribe of Men sprung up of late Years, who are for making April Fools every Day in the Year. These Gentlemen are commonly distinguished by the Name of Biters; a Race of Men that are perpetually employed in laughing at those Mistakes which are of their own Production.

The phrase April Fool’s Day isn’t attested until April 1748 when it appears in the title of a song published in the British Magazine:

On the first of APRIL, called APRIL-FOOL DAY,

A SONG

To the Tune of A Cobler there was &c.

Approach ye nine Muses, Parnassus descend,
And help out the weak Verse of a destitute friend;
To a poor silly fool prove prevalent tools,
To shew that mankind are all APRIL-FOOLS.
            Derry Down, down, &c.

It is mistakenly thought by some that the origin of the April Fool tradition dates to the introduction of the Gregorian Calendar in 1582 and the moving of the start of the year from March to the first of January. Those who continued to celebrate the new year on 1 April were marked as fools. But under the old Julian calendar the first of January was still the most common day to mark the start of the new year. 25 March was celebrated as the start of the new year in some countries, including Britain, but that would make it a March fool, not an April one. Another myth is that Chaucer makes reference to foolish tricks on April First in his Nun’s Priest’s Tale, but that reading is based on a transcription error.

Discuss this post

Sources:

Addison, Joseph. The Spectator, no. 47, 24 April 1711, 179–80. The Spectator, vol. 1, second edition. London: S. Buckley, 1713. Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO).

Amerval Éloy d’. Le Livre de la Deablerie, Paris: Michel Le Noir, 1508, sig. B3r. Bibliothèque Nationale de France: Gallica.

Aubrey, John. Remaines of Gentilisme and Judaisme (1686). James Britten, ed. Publications of the Folk-lore Society 4. London: W. Satchell, Peyton, and Co., 1881, 10. HathiTrust Digital Archive. Ovid, Fasti, book 2, lines 513, 519–20, and 523–24.

Congreve, William. The Old Batchelour. London: Peter Buck, 1693, 4–5. Early English Books Online (EEBO).

Cotton, Charles. The Scoffer Scoffed, the Second Part. London: Edward Goldin, 1684, 7. Early English Books Online (EEBO).

Lechmere, Edmund. A Disposition of the Church. Douai: Marck Wyon, 1629, 6r. Early English Books Online (EEBO).

“On the First of April, called April-Fool Day.” The British Magazine, April 1748, 172. ProQuest Historical Periodicals.

Oxford English Dictionary, third edition, March 2020, s. v. April fool, n. and int.

Image Credit: Grandville (Jean Ignace Isidore Gérard), 1868. In Le Diable a Paris. Paris Et Les Parisiens a la Plume Et Au Crayon, Tome 2. Paris: J. Hetzel, 1868, 128. Public domain image.

Thanks to Adleen Crapo for the Middle French translation of Le Livre de la Deablerie.

Nunavut

A bilingual stop sign in Iqaluit, the capital of Nunavut. In the foreground, a stop sign in both English and Inuktitut; in the background, buildings and vehicles of the town.

A bilingual stop sign in Iqaluit, the capital of Nunavut. In the foreground, a stop sign in both English and Inuktitut; in the background, buildings and vehicles of the town.

1 April 2021

Nunavut is the newest territory of Canada, separated from the Northwest Territories on 1 April 1999. It is the largest of the Canadian provinces and territories in size and the smallest in population. (The population is almost the same as that of the Yukon Territory, so depending on the date of the source you consult, Nunavut may be the second smallest in population. In any case, given its size, it is by far the most sparsely populated.)

Nunavut is an Inuktitut word meaning our land.

While the territory wasn’t officially formed until 1999, discussions about creating a self-governing territory for the Inuit date back to 1975. The proposed name for the territory appears in the pages of the Vancouver Sun on 13 February 1975:

Canada’s Eskimos are considering forming their own government to take charge of the vast area of the country north of the tree line.

They’ve even got a name for it—Nunavut (Our Land).

The proposal was made here at meetings of the land claims negotiating committee of Inuit Tapirasat (Eskimo Brotherhood) of Canada.

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Sources:

“Eskimos Eye Own Gov’t.” Vancouver Sun (British Columbia), 13 February 1975, 1. ProQuest Historical Newspapers.

Everett-Heath, John. Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Place Names, sixth ed. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2020. Oxfordreference.com.

Rayburn, Alan. Oxford Dictionary of Canadian Place Names. Don Mills, Ontario: Oxford UP Canada, 1999.

Photo credit: Angela Scappatura, 2010. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

Newfoundland

Placentia Harbor, Newfoundland. Photo overlooking the town and harbor of Placentia. Low hills are in the background, a stone wall and wooden fence in the foreground.

Placentia Harbor, Newfoundland. Photo overlooking the town and harbor of Placentia. Low hills are in the background, a stone wall and wooden fence in the foreground.

31 March 2021

From a European perspective, Newfoundland is an apt, if rather unoriginal, name. Newfoundland is a large island off the east coast of North America, which along with Labrador forms the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. It became the tenth and most recent province of Canada when it joined the confederation on 31 March 1949.

Newfoundland is the site of the only documented Norse settlement in North America, at L'Anse aux Meadows. It was also the first English overseas colony, claimed by Humphrey Gilbert in 1583.

But of course, Europeans were not the first people to inhabit the island, and it wasn’t really “new found.” The inhabitants at the time of English colonization were the Beothuk. The Beothuk were probably an Algonquian people, but not enough of their language survives to determine that with certainty. The Beothuk were gradually driven to extinction through disease and starvation from the loss of hunting territory to European settlers and other indigenous peoples. The last full-blooded Beothuk, a woman named Shanawdithit, died in 1829 of tuberculosis.

The Mi’kmaq name for the island known as Newfoundland is Ktaqmkuk, meaning land across the water.

The first reference to the island as Newfoundland is in the form of a noun phrase, with new-found used as an adjective. It appears in a financial record of payments made to fishermen from Bristol, England. From the Daybooks of King’s Payments (a.k.a. the Household Books) for 1502:

Sept. 25–30   Item to the merchauntes of bristoll that have bene in the newe founde launde    xx li

Use as a proper noun dates to at least 1568 when it appears in a translation of André Thevet’s The New Found Worlde. The passage makes reference to the river we now know as the Saint Lawrence and the European search for a Northwest Passage to Asia:

Of the Countrey called New found land.
Cap.82.

[...]

This new found land is a region, that is one of the farthest partes of Canada, and in the same land there is found a riuer, the which bicause of his bredth and length séemeth to be almost a Sea, and it is named the riuer of the thrée brethren, being distant from the Ilands of Eßores foure hundreth leagues, and from Fraunce nine hundreth: it separateth the Prouince of Canada from this New found land. Some iudge it to be a narow Sea, like that of Magellan, by the which ye may enter from the West sea, to the South sea. Gemafrigius, although he was expert in Mathematike, hath herein failed & erred, for he maketh vs beleue, that this Riuer of which we speake is a straight, the which is named Septentrionall, and so hath he sette it out in his Mappa Mundi. If that which he hath written be true, in vaine then haue the Portingals bene, and Spanyards to séeke a new straight distant from this, aboue .3000. leagues, for to enter into the South sea, to goe to the Ilands of Moluques, where as the spices are. This Countrey of New found land is inhabited with barbarous men, being clothed in wilde beastes skinnes, as are those of Canada: this people is very frowarde and vntractable, as our men can well testifie that goe thither euery yeare a fishing.

The initial value of Newfoundland to the English can be found in Robert Hitchcock’s 1580 A Pollitique Platt for the Honour of the Prince, which details the value of the Newfoundland fishing industry:

This greate benefite, is no lesse to bee valued, for the profite of this Realme and subiectes: then the benefite of the Herynges. For euery Shippe, beeyng but of the burden of lxx. tunne, if God blesse it with safe retourne, from Newfounde lande, will bryng home to his Port (in August,) twe[n]tie thousande of the beste and middle sort of wette fishe (at the leaste) called blanckfishe, and tenne thousande drie fishe, whiche beyng solde vppon the Shippes retourne, as it maie be at Newhauen in Fraunce but for fourtie shillynges the hundreth of wette fishe, whiche is not fower pence the fishe. And xxshillynges the hundreth of drie fishe, which is not twoo pence the fishe, amounteth to fiue hundreth pound at the least.

The Newfoundland dog breed originated on the island. The earliest known reference to the breed is in the journal of naturalist Joseph Banks, who visited Newfoundland and Labrador in 1766. From his journal for 10 October 1766:

Almost Every Body has heard of the Newfoundland Dogs I myself was desird to Procure some of them & when I set out for the Countrey firmley beleivd that I should meet with a sort of Dogs different from any I had Seen whose Peculiar Excellence was taking the water Freely I was therefore the more surprizd when told that there was here no distinct Breed those I met with were mostly Curs with a Cross of the Mastiff in them Some took the water well others not at all the thing they are valued for here is strenght as they are employd in winter time to Draw in Sledges whatever is wanted from the woods I was told indeed that at trepassy Livd a man who had a distinct breed which he calld the original Newfound land Dogs but I had not an opportunity of Seeing any of them.

Discuss this post

Sources:

Banks, Joseph. Journal (10 October 1766). Joseph Banks in Newfoundland and Labrador, 1766. A. M. Lysaght, ed. Berkeley: U of California P, 1971, 149–150. HathiTrust Digital Archive.

Everett-Heath, John. Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Place Names, sixth ed. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2020. Oxfordreference.com.

Harder, Kelsie B. Illustrated Dictionary of Place Names: United States and Canada. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1976.

Hitchcock, Robert. A Pollitique Platt for the Honour of the Prince. London: Ihon Kyngston, 1580, sig. a4r. Early English Books Online (EEBO).

Oxford English Dictionary, third edition, September 2019, s.v. Newfoundland, n.; March 2019, s.v., new-found, adj.

Pearce, Margaret Wickens. Coming Home to Indigenous Place Names in Canada (map). Canadian-American Center, University of Maine, 2017.

Rayburn, Alan. Oxford Dictionary of Canadian Place Names. Don Mills, Ontario: Oxford UP Canada, 1999.

Thevet, André. The New Found Worlde. London: Henrie Bynneman for Thomas Hacket, 1568, 133r–v. Early English Books Online (EEBO).

Williamson, James A. The Cabot Voyages and Bristol Discovery Under Henry VII. Hakluyt Society, second series 120. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1962, 216. HathiTrust Digital Archive.

Photo credit: Michael Rathwell, 2006. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.