Ever hear the term Scalawag?

[PatYoung]

"Scalawags" were Southern whites who understood that the Confederacy had been defeated and who supported Reconstruction and the reincorporation of their states into the life of the Union. They were often attacked by white conservatives and Democrats for working with newly free African Americans. This article from a conservative newspaper defines the term "Scalawag" as one who loves blacks, but not as a compliment.
https://thereconstructionera.com/de...lives-upon-the-sickening-odors-of-negro-love/

 

[5fish]

Scalawag term implied someone being a traitor to the Southern cause...

I truth they were trying to modernized or create a new South...

 

[Wehrkraftzersetzer]

I think I heard the term in a British song which was older than the ACW
as part of a list of dishonest people I think (like rascals, scalawags and ragamufins)

 

[Wehrkraftzersetzer]

I think I heard the term in a British song which was older than the ACW
as part of a list of dishonest people I think (like rascals, scalawags and ragamufins)

looked it up a bitand found that pre ACW the term and it's variants ment and undersized animal (due to feeding or desease)
German Translations given are more "passivly" bad like Taugenichts, Tunichtgut (=good for nothing) not activly like rascal and fit to Kümmerling* (meager or pitiful animal or plant).

Since words don't pop out of the thin air there may be an older English or Gaelic word.
Due to the fact that English iNet is American dominated sources point to the post ACW use, while German sources sometimes don't even mention it.


* there is also an alcolic beverage by that name, but this is annother story.

 

[5fish]

I think I heard the term in a British song which was older than the ACW
as part of a list of dishonest people I think (like rascals, scalawags and ragamufins)

I found this which matches up with you song... The is older than ACW...

scal·a·wag
/ˈskaləˌwaɡ,ˈskalēˌwaɡ/
Learn to pronounce
noun
INFORMAL
plural noun: scalawags

1. a person who behaves badly but in an amusingly mischievous rather than harmful way; a rascal.
   • US
     a white Southerner who collaborated with northern Republicans during Reconstruction, often for personal profit. The term was used derisively by white Southern Democrats who opposed Reconstruction legislation.

 

[Wehrkraftzersetzer]

Scalawag term implied someone being a traitor to the Southern cause...

I truth they were trying to modernized or create a new South...

What those who just now had lost a war (and lots of property) certainly would not like. They would prefer as much of the old South as possible

 

[5fish]

(and lots of property)

I find a word detective... Ink:

http://www.word-detective.com/2010/03/scallywag/


There are several theories about the origins of “scallywag,” but most dictionaries still label the word “origin uncertain.” Several of more the plausible theories about “scallywag” point to Scotland as the source of the word. The old Scots dialect word “scallag,” for instance, means “servant” or “rustic,” making it a possible source. Then again, one of Scotland’s Shetland Islands is named Scalloway, and since these islands are world famous for their diminutive Shetland ponies, there may well be a connection between “Scalloway” and “scallywag” meaning a small, useless horse. Yet another Scots word, “scurryvaig,” may be even a better bet. Derived from the Latin “scurra vagas,” meaning roughly “wandering fool or buffoon,” this “scurryvaig” means “a vagabond or wanderer.” Of course, it’s entirely possible that two or more of these words influenced the development of “scallywag,” so we may never be able to trace its precise family tree.