word choice - The etymology of "redhead" vs. "ginger haired"


All my life I have known people with reddish, orangey hair, to be termed ginger haired.


Just as you don't call a blonde a 'yellow head' red head just wasn't a word that was said (wouldn't orange head be more accurate for most anyway?).


However these days I increasingly find people using the term 'red head'. At first it seems to have been a term restricted to magazines with attractive ginger models, as if the media couldn't admit that attractive gingers exist, but it has slowly spread to the general population and these days I often hear it.


My guess is that that redhead is an old term that then fell out of use with the (then) more exotic ginger taking its place, and that in modern times with ginger no longer being an exotic food and anti-ginger stuff in culture redhead has somehow re-emerged.


Is there any truth to my guess? What is the actual history of the terms redhead/ginger?


When did ginger come into use? Why did redhead fall so out of use in favour of ginger? Has redhead always been used in a fashion context or is its re-emergence totally out of the blue?




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