#22932
03/15/2001 3:35 AM
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Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 1
stranger
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stranger
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 1 |
Recently in a local museum I saw a handwritten receipt for the purchase of a slave in Georgia or South Carolina in the 1840s. The slave is described as a "holatur Negro girl." Does anyone know what "holatur" means? Keep in mind that the word may be misspelled since there are several creative spellings in the receipt. Thank you.
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#22933
03/15/2001 1:21 PM
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439 |
Welcome to the Board Annproph,
Could you give us a couple of the other creative spellings with translation so we'd have a better idea what we are dealing with?
wow
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#22934
03/15/2001 2:18 PM
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Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Posts: 10,542 |
I would hazzard the guess, from a couple of related words, that it means pure-blooded.
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#22935
03/15/2001 2:29 PM
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439 |
Annproph,
When tsuwm hazards I guess I put my money on it.
wow
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#22936
03/15/2001 2:59 PM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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The ending looks a bit like a Latin deponent, but I can't think of any verb that would fit. I wonder if it could be a legal term.
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#22937
03/15/2001 11:58 PM
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Posts: 11,613 |
Welcome to you, annproph. Yes, please would you give some more examples of the misspellings if you can?
Tsuwm, what related words, please? I have been driving myself crazy, trying to figure this one out. (Yeah, I know, short drive! Beat you to it, C.K.) I have tried every pronunciation that I could think of, and come up short on every one. HALL-a-tour, HALL-a-choor, HA-later,
hoe-later, whole-AY-tour, whole-AY-choor. Aaagh!
And that's without even considering that he (it HAD to have been a he) might have put a wrong letter somewhere.
The only thing that comes close might be whole-natured--was that what you were thinking, tsuwm?
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#22938
03/16/2001 1:41 AM
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Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Posts: 10,542 |
sorry j, if I'd had something obvious in mind I'd have proffered it.  possible cognates I came up with are 'holethnos' or holethnic' relating to an undivided primitive stock or race. like I said, just a guess.
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#22939
03/16/2001 9:04 AM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 427
addict
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addict
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 427 |
Much to my chagrin  , the only word to spring to mind in relation to this one is holoturia (sea-cucumber)...
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#22940
03/16/2001 9:18 AM
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 393
enthusiast
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enthusiast
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 393 |
BLUFFING WITH CLASSICS! Greek adjective hol- 'whole' with Latin 3rd singular passive -atur? I think not! Could it be from an error trying to read handwriting? kolature, nolature, halature, notature, holaton, holotus... mmm...
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#22941
03/16/2001 1:39 PM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 428
addict
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addict
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 428 |
Mad props to annproph for a real stumper. Here's a shot in the dark: Maybe it's an archaic term for "light-skinned"? The only thing I base that on is the German word "hell" meaning "light" (i.e. hellbrun = light brown). Perhaps someone with more German than I can figure out the -atur part...
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#22942
03/17/2001 12:58 AM
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
HOLATUR
chocolat-ure
holaturi
coloratura
holler at her
ho', later
holitur
holaturn
haul at her
holatue
haul a tour
hawlitzer
halter
whole, mature
Gah! Does anything here strike a chord with anybody? At all? I've been trying to think of likely mistakes. I think it's likely that either: the word ends in ---er,
or ---ure. Possibly --ur(something else), maybe n, was simply omitted. I think it is likely that the consonants are correct--unless the handwriting was difficult to read.
If there is no mistaking the handwriting, I would guess these consonants are correct, because each has its own distinctive sound, not easy to confuse, as, for example,
j and g. But that brings up the near-certainty that at least one letter has been omitted--but where? And what?
I've also been trying to add Southern pronunciations to various possibilities. Current, of course, since I don't know what it sounded like back then! "Hol" could be the equivalent of hall, haul, or haw(l). That led me to try and think of idioms from that time and locale, and again I came up short. Haw is a direction to turn left, but that doesn't seem to have much relevance here. I've tried thinking up characteristics used to describe slaves, and--
same result.
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