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Origin and history of piccaninny

piccaninny(n.)

also pickaninny, "a baby," especially, as used by Europeans, one of any of the black races, 1650s, from West Indies patois, formed as a diminutive from Spanish pequeño or Portuguese pequeno "little, small," a word of uncertain origin, related to French petit (see petit (adj.)). Now offensive; as late as 1836 it was applied affectionately in English to any small child or baby, regardless of race.

also from 1650s

Entries linking to piccaninny

petit(adj.)

late 14c., "small, little; minor, trifling, insignificant," from Old French petit "small, little, young, few in numbers" (11c.), which is probably from the stem of Late Latin pitinnus "small," a word of uncertain origin; it corresponds to no known Latin form and perhaps is from a Celtic root pett- "part, piece, bit" also found in Italian pezza, English piece.

Attested as a surname from 1086. Replaced by petty in most usages, except in established forms such as petit bourgeois "conventional middle-class" (1832; used in English by Charlotte Brontë earlier than by Marx or Engels); petit mal ("mild form of epilepsy," 1842, literally "little evil"); petit-maître ("a fop, a dandy," 1711, literally "little master"); and petit four "small, fancy dessert cake" (1884), which in French means "little oven," from Old French four "oven," from Latin furnus. In Middle English a petiteskole (mid-15c.) was a school for young children.

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    kid
    c. 1200, "the young of a goat," from a Scandinavian source such as Old Norse kið "young goat," from Proto-Germanic *kidjom (source also of Old High German kizzi, German kitze, Danish and Swedish kid), a word of uncertain origin. The extended meaning "child" is recorded as slang b
    fry
    late 13c., "cook (something) in a shallow pan over a fire," from Old French frire "to fry" (13c.), from Latin frigere "to roast or fry," from PIE *bher- "to cook, bake" (source also of Sanskrit bhrjjati "roasts," bharjanah "roasting;" Persian birishtan "to roast;" perhaps also Gr
    minor
    early 13c., in frere menour "Franciscan friar," literally "minor friar," from Latin minor "less, lesser, smaller, junior," figuratively "inferior, less important," which was formed as a masculine/feminine form of minus on the mistaken assumption that minus was a neuter comparativ
    child
    Old English cild "fetus, infant, unborn or newly born person," from Proto-Germanic *kiltham (source also of Gothic kilþei "womb," inkilþo "pregnant;" Danish kuld "children of the same marriage;" Old Swedish kulder "litter;" Old English cildhama "womb," lit. "child-home"); it has
    charity
    late Old English, "benevolence for the poor," also "Christian love in its highest manifestation," from Old French charité "(Christian) charity, mercy, compassion; alms; charitable foundation" (12c.), from Latin caritatem (nominative caritas) "costliness; esteem, affection," from
    oblivion
    late 14c., oblivioun, "state or fact of forgetting, forgetfulness, loss of memory," from Old French oblivion (13c.) and directly from Latin oblivionem (nominative oblivio) "forgetfulness; a being forgotten," from oblivisci (past participle oblitus) "forget," which is of uncertain
    godspeed
    also God speed, by late 14c., "(I wish that) God (may) grant you success," from God + speed (v.) in its old sense of "prosper, grow rich, succeed." Specifically as a salutation by mid-15c. Also in Middle English as an adverb, "quickly, speedily" (early 14c.); the then-identically
    indulgence
    mid-14c., in the Church sense, "a freeing from temporal punishment for sin, remission from punishment for sin that remains due after absolution," from Old French indulgence or directly from Latin indulgentia "complaisance, a yielding; fondness, tenderness, affection; remission,"
    race
    [act of running] late Old English, also rase, "a narrative, an account;" c. 1300, "an act of swift running, a hurried attack," also "a course of life or conduct, a swift current;" from Old Norse rās "a running, a rush (of water)," cognate with Old English ræs "a running, a rush,
    theory
    1590s, "conception, mental scheme," from Late Latin theoria (Jerome), from Greek theōria "contemplation, speculation; a looking at, viewing; a sight, show, spectacle, things looked at," from theōrein "to consider, speculate, look at," from theōros "spectator," from thea "a view"

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