MELUNGEON

ETYMOLOGY

There are many hypotheses about the etymology of the term "Melungeon". Kennedy (1994) speculates that it derives from the Turkish melun can (from Arabic "mal`un jinn") which means "damned soul". Another theory traces the word to malungu, a Luso-African root from Angola meaning "shipmate." One theory, long favored by linguists and many researchers on the topic and found in several dictionaries, is that the name derives from the French mélange, or mixture. An underlying assumption in many suggested etymologies seems to be that "Melungeon" and the people designated by that term have a common origin. For example, Kennedy believes this group to be at least partly of Turkish origin; thus, for him, their name must also be Turkish.

The earliest known written use of the word "Melungeon" is in an 1813 Scott County, Virginia Stony Creek Primitive Baptist Church record:

"Then came forward Sister Kitchen and complained to the church against Susanna Stallard for saying she harbored them Melungins. Sister Sook said she was hurt with her for believing her child and not believing her, and she won't talk to her to get satisfaction, and both is 'pigedish', one against the other. Sister Sook lays it down and the church forgives her."

The usage of this word in the minutes without definition suggests it was a word familiar to the congregation. It appears at first glance to refer to a group of people: this is how Goins (2000) and others read it. However, such a reading seems at odds with the fact that several Melungeons were at the time members of the church, namely Thomas and Charles Gibson and Valentine Collins. Also, there is no record of any group called "Melungeons" prior to this time.

A more likely derivation for "Melungeon" could be from the now obsolete English word "malengin" (also spelled "mal engine") meaning "guile," "deceit," or "ill intent," and used as the name of a trickster figure by Edmund Spenser in his epic poem The Faerie Queene. Thus, the phrase "harbored them Melungins" would be equivalent to "harbored someone ill will," or could mean "harbored evil people" without reference to ethnicity. Judging by these church minutes, then, it appears that the families who would later be called "Melungeons" in Tennessee were not yet known by that term in 1813 Virginia.

By 1840 "Melungeon" had apparently become a racial pejorative, at least in Tennessee: a Jonesborough, Tennessee, newspaper article of that year entitled "Negro Speaking!" refers to a competing politician in derogatory fashion first as "an impudent Malungeon from Washington Cty, a scoundrel who is half Negro and half Indian," then as a "free negroe". Since Washington County borders Hawkins, the term "Melungeon" was presumably already associated by that time with Northeast Tennessee. However, it is unclear whether the word referred to a specific set of families or was just a generic label for a certain category of African American. The article does not provide the politician's name, but the 1830 census for Washington County, Tennessee lists the names of several free colored families, including several surnamed Hale. DeMarce (1992) listed Hale as a Melungeon surname, but Elder (1999) found no evidence that they were connected to the core Collins and Gibson families. By the mid-to-late 19th century, at least, the term appeared to refer specifically to the multiracial families of Hancock County and neighboring areas.

There seems to be no written evidence to demonstrate the process whereby a word meaning "ill will" in 1813 had come to mean a "half Negro ... half Indian" or "free negroe" by 1840. Even today, though, some people in Eastern Tennessee still use the term to mean something like "boogeyman," suggesting a possible intermediate stage.

Several other uses of the term from mid-19th to early 20th century print media have been collected at this website. As can be seen, the spelling of the term varied somewhat from author to author, until eventually the form "Melungeon" became standard.

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