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Old 05-26-2009, 10:28 AM   #284
RickyMaveety
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Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT View Post
I don't mean that Shakespeare invented the word, but rather that it was a word that was in common usage in Shakespeare's time. There are a lot of words which have fallen out of usage in modern British English, but have stayed "current" in American English. It crossed my mind that this could perhaps be such a word.
As I said, it could be. But under the circumstances, especially the restrictions on literacy among the slaves of the American South prior to the Civil War (and I am sad to say, after the Civil War as well), I do think that it is a matter of independent invention (so to speak).

Of course, it's a pretty obvious abbreviated form of the word, so I wouldn't be surprised to see it pop up independently from time to time in any English speaking culture. An amazing amount of slave vernacular and sayings have made its way into American English and is still used today (although most people don't realize the source).

The phonetic spelling of "cousin" (often used by those who wrote about the slaves, such as in the Uncle Remus stories), is either "cuzzin" or sometimes "cuzzen" .... and that's where "Cuz" came from.
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