Hillbilly

From Metapedia

Hillbilly is a term referring to Folk who dwell in remote, rural, mountainous areas of the United States of America. Usage of the term "hillbilly" generally differs from other terms referring to rural people in the United States in that it can be used for mountain dwelling people anywhere but is generally not used to refer to rural people in non-mountainous areas.

The term "Hill-Billies" is first encountered in documents from 17th century Ireland. Roman Catholic King James II landed at Kinsale in Ireland in 1689 and began to raise a Catholic army in an attempt to regain the British throne. Protestant King William III, Prince of Orange, led an English counterforce into Ireland and defeated James II at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690. A significant portion of William III's army was composed of Protestants of Scottish descent (Planters) who had settled in Ulster in northern Ireland. The southern Irish Catholic supporters of James II referred to these northern Protestant supporters of King William as "Hill-Billies" and "Billy Boys"--Billy being an abbreviation of William. It is believed that the term "hillbilly" in the United States was conferred during the early 18th century by the occupying British soldiers as a carry over from the Irish term, in referring to Scotch-Irish immigrants of mainly Presbyterian origin, dwelling in the frontier areas of the Appalachian Mountains. These Protestant Irish colonists brought their cultural traditions with them when they immigrated. Many of their stories, songs and ballads dealt with the history of their Ulster and Lowland Scot homelands, especially relating the tale of the Protestant King William III, Prince of Orange.

Yet another explanation for the term comes from the European immigrants to the United States who settled in the Appalachian Mountains. Many of these immigrants were of Germanic origin and were named William, a common Germanic name during that time. Those Williams, who went by Bill or Billy, living in the Appalachian Mountains became known as "hillbillies," i.e., Bills who lived in the hills.

Alternatively, it is also speculated that the term emerged as a derogatory nickname given by the coastal plain-dwelling Anglo-Saxon Southerners for the hill-dwelling settlers of Eastern Tennessee, Western Virginia (including modern West Virginia), northern Arkansas and Eastern Kentucky, many of whom were ambivalent to the Confederacy during the American Civil War. Historically, there were conflicts between the mountain-dwelling "hillbillies" and the planters who lived on the coastal plains.