Is A Greenhorn A Word Used To Describe An Animal If Not What Does It Describe
On Language; Greenhorn
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June 23, 1991
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THE HEAVY HITTERS OF THE Eastward Hampton, L.I., media-theatrical-legal establishment were supping at the beach house of Mort Zuckerman of U.S. News. When the chat veered to the assimilation of minorities in America, Mort Janklow, the literary agent, used the word greenhorn to denote an immigrant from Eastern Europe at the turn of the 20th century.
Richard Reeves, the columnist (this is beginning to read similar a Liz Smith column; also present at the dinner were the irrepressible Peter Stone, author of the new Will Rogers musical, and the dour Lloyd Cutler, counsel to the President in the Carter Assistants; dare I put the names in boldface and consume a peach?) -- at any rate, Reeves asked, "What'due south the derivation of greenhorn ?" Janklow guessed it had something to do with animal husbandry , an primitive phrase that many now accept to be a derogation of married life. The group at Nuthin' Dune, likewise lazy to pick up a dictionary, sent the query to me.
Fortunately for them, I had but said to myself: the next interesting word that comes in will be the basis for a comparison of dictionaries. You have to be fair about this; some lexicographers, similar star quarterbacks, become a hot manus on sure words, while others plunk along; however on other terms, the plunkers turn to stars. Which word shall be the criterion? Close your optics and open the mail: O.K., let'due south use greenhorn .
All skilful lexies depend on two bones sources for their definitions: the Oxford English Lexicon for the history of a word (with its supplement or CD ROM for more than recent usage), and their own commendation files to decide the current senses. They also look at one another'due south latest dictionaries and effort to be original in defining without straying besides far from the norm.
Greenhorn , begins the O.E.D., is "i. An appellation given to an animal, ? orig. to an ox with 'greenish' or young horns. Obs. " The question mark means they acknowledge to guessing at the origin, same as the agent Janklow did; nobody has fabricated a better guess. (Was there a 15th-century novice named Sam Greenhorn who gave his proper noun to the discussion? Unlikely.) So nosotros go with the O.E.D.'due south presumed etymology. The first sense of "young ox" used in 1460 is obv. obs. -- obviously obsolete.
The second historical sense is "a recently enlisted soldier; a raw recruit" with citations from 1650. Third is "a raw, inexperienced person, esp. a novice in a trade . . . ignoramus . . . simpleton." The best citation is from an 1831 Disraeli novel: "he execrated the greenhornism which fabricated him feign a passion and so become caught where he meant to capture."
That's the O.E.D. history. If you're a lexie, you go to your own commendation files to encounter how it'southward existence used today. From my own citation file, I have this passage from David Ignatius's recent spy novel, "Siro":
"Ever close the drapes," says the smart-sexy heroine, a C.I.A. recruit, going past the book in a hotel-room meeting with her mentor. "We're in Rockville," replies the veteran spook, "nobody cares." The novelist narrates: "Anna nodded. She felt similar a greenhorn ."
(I don't actually have citation files on this; I was reading that novel until the wee hours last night, afterwards having started this piece, and the word popped upwardly at me. Such coincidences always happen. Now close the drapes and nosotros'll keep, knowing the word is currently used by novelists in the sense of "novice, newcomer," and by agents in the sense of "immigrant.")
How do three top American dictionaries handle the word? Here is how the definition appears: Webster's New World, Third College Edition dark-green * horn (gren' horn' ) n . [ [ orig. with reference to a immature fauna with immature horns ] ] ane a ) an inexperienced person; beginner; novice * b ) [ Now Rare ] a newly arrived immigrant two a person easily deceived; dupe Merriam-Webster's Ninth New Collegiate green * horn /-'h.o(east)rn/ n . [ obs. foreigner (creature with immature horns) ] (1682) 1 : an inexper- ienced or unsophisticated person 2 : a newcomer (every bit to a country) unacquainted with local manners and customs Random Firm Webster's College light-green * horn (gren' horn' ), northward . 1. an untrained or inexperienced person. 2. a naive or gullible person. 3. a newly arrived immigrant; new- comer. [ 1425-75; belatedly ME; orig. ap- plied to cattle with greenish (i.eastward., young) horns ] -- green' horn' ism, n .
At first glance, the entries seem much the same; inexperienced is used in the first sense every time, although it could exist argued that the current sense (which should exist listed first) is naive , and there are plenty of people who keep having awful experiences but who remain hopelessly naive. As to the discussion'southward brute origin, all three nowadays as a certainty what the O.Eastward.D. properly lists as a question marker and I would telephone call informed speculation, logically deduced but unattested.
On close inspection, however, different judgments are made and features are offered. In the offset entry, Webster'due south New World, the lexicographer offers two synonyms beyond inexperienced -- beginner and novice -- while Merriam-Webster adds only unsophisticated , and Random House chooses untrained , with a separate sense of naive and gullible . I think Random House comes out all-time on that, because a difference exists between inexperienced and naive, gullible , and information technology is useful to have the senses separate.
What near the immigrant sense? Webster's New World is the just one to list it as rare ; obviously Victoria Neufeldt, the editor, doesn't hang out with aging media biggies in the Hamptons. But that fiddling star earlier the reference to immigrants is a WNW exclusive: it tells u.s.a. that the give-and-take in that sense is an Americanism; Random Firm wisely dropped the "slang" judgment in its unabridged dictionary. Of the three dictionaries' treatment of the new-immigrant sense, I prefer Merriam-Webster's broader definition: "a newcomer (as to a state) unacquainted with local manners and community."
On pronunciation, all three agree the beginning syllable gets a slightly stronger stress, but Merriam-Webster uses a hyphen to send you looking up at other greens, and its schwas leave me schwach -- that is, its linguistically precise pronunciation symbols are depressing to the amateur who never will read the incomprehensible key on the lower right corner of every page spread. (This will be solved when we all get sound on the dictionaries in our computers.)
Webster's New World doesn't take a engagement for whatever sense; Merriam-Webster gives the date (1682) for the commencement apply of the term in the "inexperienced" sense while the Random House Webster gives a vague range of years (1425-1475) for the word when it referred to young cattle (probably). On this, I desire to know what Merriam-Webster gives me: coinage of the principal current meaning.
Give Random a point for adding the -ism (though you lot'd have to look in the spacious Oxford to discover its coinage by Disraeli) and for punctuating its entries with periods.
On the whole, I'd requite the border on this entry to Webster's New World, because it separates the "inexperienced" slightly from the "new immigrant" and gives a separate sense to "hands deceived." When I work my style through a couple hundred thousand more entries, I'll decide which dictionary is best; don't hold your jiff.
Therefore, when didactic people say to yous, "Co-ordinate to Webster'due south," your proper riposte is: "Which Webster's? What do yous accept me for, a greenhorn ?"
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/1991/06/23/magazine/on-language-greenhorn.html
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