Another thing Batavia can brag about: giving the world the word 'scalawag'

You wouldn't want to be called a "scalawag," but if you were a Batavia resident in the early 19th Century and didn't pay your debts, that's exactly how a local merchant might label you, and the local newspaper would print the charge, no less.

An amateur word sleuth uncovered the origins of "scalawag" recently, and according to a piece in the Boston Globe, the rather uncomplimentary word was likely invented right here in Batavia.

Nathaniel Sharpe, a 22-year-old genealogist from Bathgate, ND, was researching one of his ancestors, one John W. Putman.

He found a reference to Putnam in the March 8, 1836, issue of Batavia’s Republican Advocate.

Putnam was called a "skallewagg" for leaving town without paying his debts.

The spelling was curious and Sharpe wondered if "skallewagg" might mean the same as current spelling "scalawag."

It does, and prior to Sharpe's discovery, the earliest known print reference to the word was in 1848.

The Oxford English Dictionary said the word had Western New York origins.

With more research, Sharpe was able to determine that the possible originator of the word was James Brisbane (a famous surname in Batavia and journalism history).

The entire story is fascinating. Click here to read it.