Hi Jay,

--- Jay Heuman <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> One poster provided a great example (Amistad) of how the slave trade tried to
> change those who were "enslaved" into "slaves."  Enslavement is a process;
> slaves are usually the result of the process.

That was a good point. But if slaves were born and raised in slavery, were they
ever technically "enslaved"? I doubt slave owners went around and said "*poof*,
you're a slave." It also implies that these people were free to begin with,
which they weren't. Thus using the word "enslaved" seems to give them a status
which they did not have.

For example, a Roman legion captures and enemy city and all those who weren't
killed were enslaved. There I can see using the term "the enslaved Gauls" which
implies that at one point they were free.

But on a plantation where all the slaves probably had been slaves all their
lives, using the term "enslaved" gives the impression that they were something
other than slaves, which they weren't. I can see using the term for early
American site where blacks were brought over from Africa and enslaved. But was
a slave born to a slavery ever really "enslaved" at one point? Certainly not in
the way the first Africans imported to the colonies or a conquered people were.

> Looking at the etymology of "slave" (below), one sees the assumption that
> slaves are inherently 'lesser than'.  To "enslave" is the attempt to impose a
> 'lesser than' status.

Another good point, but again, you can't have a lesser status if you never had
a higher status to begin with.

Deb

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