[Windflier]

Years ago in Latin class we were taught the N word meant impure black and was used by the field slaves against the house slaves who were often off-springs of the “master”.

Some people concoct the strangest theories. I don't think there's an ounce of truth in that. There was probably less animosity between house slaves and field slaves than you might think. They were blood relatives in many cases. At the end of the day, none of them were free.

[hoosiermama]

Your theory make much more sense. OTOH the latin word for black is still nigrum/niger and derivatives are used in scientic identification. Nigeria is another example. Etymologically, negro, noir, nègre, ... ultimately derive from nigrum, the stem of the Latin niger (black) (pronounced [ˈniɡer]