Quote:
|
Originally Posted by xepherys
Now I understand that in it's initial creation, [nigger] had a negative intent.
|
In it's initial creation, "nigger" (and/or "negro") was a geographically descriptive label for Africans from around the Niger River.
It came to be offensive when two things happened:
People started taking offense.
People used it to offend.
Since the Niger River was a major transhipment route for the slave trade, those who initially took offense could have been Free Blacks viewing "nigger" as a synonym for "slave". But "nigger" didn't become "the N-word" until fairly recently... so I don't quite think that reasoning would apply.