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Date: | Mon, 24 Feb 2003 22:04:46 -0600 |
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----- Original Message -----
> An interesting note on the term "noble savage"; the word "noble refers to
a class or caste of people rather than a character trait; early European
explorers noted that all Native American men engaged in hunting, a practice
which in Europe was reserved for the nobility -- hence within the tribe,
every man was a noble.
Interesting take, to be sure, and accurate insofar as hunting being the
privilege of European nobility, but the concept of the "noble savage"
originated with the French Romantic Jean-Jacques Rousseau in the 1762 novel
Émile.
The "noble savage" is an "idealized human prototype, inherently good in a
state of nature before being corrupted by 'civilization.'" (Brewer's
Dictionary of
Phrase & Fable, 1999)
HTH,
Theola
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