“In the Century dictionary and cyclopedia By Benjamin Eli Smith the terms Moor and Negro are found. Moor is defined on Page 3852 Moor, n. [Earl mod. E. also Moore, More; <ME. More, Moore, Moore = D. Moor = , MLG. Mor (ef. equiv. MLG, Morian = Dan. and Sw. Morian, Dan. also Maurer) = F. More, also Muare = Pr. Mor = Sp. Moro = Dan. and Sw. Morian, Dan. also Maurer) = F. More, also Maure = Pr. Mor = Sp. Moro = Pg. Mouro = It. Moro, < L. Maurus, M.L. also Morus <Gr. Maupoc, a Moor; perhaps <……., dark (see amaurosis); but perhaps the name was of foreign origin. Cf. blackamoor. Hence Morian, Moresque, Morisco, morris.] One of a dark race dwelling in Barbary in northern Africa. They derive their name from the ancient Mauri or Mauritanians (See Mauritanian), but the present Moors are a mixed race, chiefly Arab and Mauritanian origin. The name is applied especially to the dwellers in the cities. The Arabic conquerors of Spain were called Moors. The folk of that Country be blacke now, and ore black than in the other parts; and there ben ckept Moures. Manderville, Travels P. 146″
“When we turn to the definition for Negro we find negro (ne’ gro), n. and a. [= F. negre O E. ne- ger, now nigger = D. Gr. Dan. Sw. neger = Buss. negru: see nigger^), < Sp. Pg. It. negro, black, as a noun, negro, m., negra. f., a black person, a negro; It. also nero = Pr. negre, nier = OF. negre, nigre, necre, ner, neir, F. noir, black, < L. niger (nigr-), black, dark, dusk, applied to the night, the sky, a storm, etc., to pitch, ete., to ivy, etc., to the complexion (‘dark’), etc., and also to the black people of Africa, etc. (but the ordinary terms for ‘ African negro ‘ or ‘ African ‘ were ethiops and Afer); also, fig., sad, mourn ful, gloomy, ill-omened, fatal, etc. Cf. Skt. nig, night; but whether Skt. nig, night, is related to nahta, night, or either to L. niger, black, is not clear. From L. niger are also ult. E. nigrescent, nigritude, Nigella, niello, anneal1 (in part), etc.”
The words Moor*, blackamoor, in the same sense, are much older in E. ] I. n. ; pi. negroes (-groz). A black man: specifically, one of a race of men characterized by black skin and hair of a woolly or crisp nature. Negroes are distinguished from the other races by various other peculiarities — such as the projection of the visage in advance of the forehead; the prolongation of the upper and lower jaws; the small facial angle; the flatness of the forehead and of the hinder part of the head; the short, broad, and flat nose; and the thick projecting lips.
The negro race is generally regarded as comprehending the native inhabitants of Sudan, Senegambia, and the region southward to the vicinity of the equator and the great lakes, and their descendants in America and elsewhere; in a wider sense it is used to comprise also many other tribes further south, as the Zulus and Kafirs. The word negro is often loosely applied to other dark or black-skinned races, and to mixed breeds.
As designating a “race,” it is sometimes written with a capital. Toward the south of this region Is the kyngedome of Guinea, with Senegal, Iaiofo, Gambra, and many other regions of the blacke Moores called Ethiopians or Negros, all which are watered with the river Negro, called in olde tyme Niger R. Eden. See First Three English Books on America [(ed. ArberX p. 374. H. a. Of, pertaining to, or characteristic of black men or negroes: as negro blood; negro dances. It is often asked what Races are Negro, as the meaning of the term is not well defined. . . .The word is not a National appellation but denotes a physical type, of which the tribes In North Guinea are the representatives. When these characteristics are not all present, the Race is not Negro, though black and woolly-haired. R. N. Oust, Mod. Langs, of Africa, p. 53.
See The Century dictionary and cyclopedia By Benjamin Eli Smith
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