I’ve heard the term “Moulan Yan” used to describe blacks. Because I’ve heard it on the Sopranos and in Do the Right Thing (never IRL), I’m assuming it’s specifically used by Italians. But what does it derive from?
From JE Lighter, Random House Dictionary of American Slang:
mulenyam var. of It melanzana ‘eggplant’, a black person.–used comtemptuously. see also Mullion
cited first from 1967.
mullion from 1959 Brosnan “Hey, Mullion-man!” Lawrence said to Daniels, and they both grinned…“I first heard it this spring over at St. Louis. Every colored player in the league seems to be using it this year…But what does it mean?” “…Like, not pretty. You know. Ugly, you might say.”
I don’t know the spelling, but I’m fairly sure it’s Italian. It sounds to my ear like “mulan-yoan” (phonetic).
Like samclem pointed out, it means “eggplant”.
According to this site,
Hope this helps.
Okay then. Thank you!
Knead, your quote reminds me of the movie Zebrahead, where two sisters are discussing potential SOs. One says, “I wouldn’t go out with that guy.” The other says, “He’s not white; he’s Italian.” “Italian’s not white?” “Don’t think so…”
Actually, the most telling moment for me as far as Tony Soprano’s racial thinking goes is when he refers to the dean of Meadow’s college as a “Jew.” Carmella, who has just had lunch with the dean and has learned that his name “Ross” was shortened from “Rossetti” at Ellis Island, informs him that the dean is Italian. Heritage-proud Tony remarks, “Jews with better food.”
I rolled on the floor.
As noted previously, the word derives from the “standard” Italian word, melanzane, meaning eggplant. Specifically it refers to the black skin of the eggplant. The word contains the Greek adjective “melas,” meaning “black.”
The Tony Soprano pronunciation of the word is the Southern Italian (Naples and Sicily) way of saying what Italians from Rome and further North call “melanzane.”
Amusingly, if it does derive from eggplant, there is an interesting and amusing change of form and meaning which illustrates differences over time.
IIRC eggplant was originally used to describe a member of the genus Solanaceae (of which modern eggplants are a member) which was WHITE, hence the term eggplant- they looked like eggs (small than modern cultivars). I am growing some varietal eggplants at the moment, and am assured that they are multi colored and variegated in shape. Modern eggplants are uni-color and conventionally shaped as they are because they have been selected to be so.
I wonder which age the average eggplant became large and dark, rather than small and white. Could this be used to date the use of this term as a racial slur?
Solanaceae is a plant family. Solanum is a genus. This includes the common potato.
The eggplant has a black skin, hence the Italian term of derogation for dark-skinned people. The flesh of the egglpant is greenish, and of the potato, white, as has been noted.
I suppose the Italians could have referred to dark-skinned folk as “potate,” but that term has been employed to describe another ethnic group, who tend to be fair skinned.
Mea Culpa. Family not Genus. IANAG (I am not a Geneticist)
Original point still stands- early forms imported to the West from India were sometimes white and small- hence the name.
Original point still stands- early forms imported to the West from India were sometimes white and small- hence the name. **
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The name, “eggplant,” in English refers to the SHAPE of the fruit, not its color. As you know, chicken eggs vary from white to dark brown.
The Italian name emphasizes the color of the fruit, which is black, and which is referred to by the species designation of the eggplant: Solanum melongena.
I’m not a geneticist either, and took only one semester of Plant Taxonomy in college, but I remember all of it.
Educational material at the Eden Project (plant ecolological center) states that the originals were egg shaped, sized and colored- as in the eggs current at that time. Only saw this the week before last when we visited. Even modern eggplants are not like any egg I know in shape, size or color.
Let’s not forget about the white racial slur for people that make bad movies - “Moulin Rouge”
There are many different varieties of eggplant. Some are large and deep purple, some are long and slender and light purple, some are grape-sized and green, and some are egg-sized and egg-shaped and white skinned. I’ve seen this particular variety growing with my own eyes.
And this white-skinned small oval variety was the first kind that english speakers encountered, and so they named it an eggplant. Other cultural groups first encountered different varieties, and so their names for the plant do not mention “eggyness”.
So does this have any connection to the word “melanin”?
That’s a racial slur? Dang. Never heard of it. 
How can you insult someone by calling them a delicious vegetable? I mean ‘spaghetti slurper’ is more of an insult than eggplant. Not much imagination among Mafia type and New Yorkers I guess. The first Black guy to be called that must have laughed in the insulter’s face. Like calling a White man a ‘Squash.’
'Hey you! Yeah youse! Squash! Geddoutta heah! We don’t want no Squashes in dis pizza place."
Maybe it would be better applied to Asians, because they’re ‘yellow’ in hue. Flounder, for the pale white underside, might be better for Whites.
My ancestry is part Italian and I really, really despise the stereotypical Italian lifestyle you find in places like New York, with the accent (after about 10 generations), the attitude, the loud family life, the insistence on heavy Italian food, the ‘hand talking’ and stupid names like Vinnie. Luckily, my parents moved far, far away from that type of Italian when I was a kid and settled here in Normalcy, USA.
Biobot said
If you were Italian, you didn’t call a black to his/her face by that name. If you were speaking to them directly you called them “nigger”, assuming you were being demeaning.
If you were talking to another Italian, you might have used the slang name from the veggie.
Moulin Rouge means “red mill”. Hmmm…
I’m half Italian. My dad is from, and his family (those that haven’t passed on) still live in, an entirely Italian-American community called Roseto, in Pennsylvania. The 'tayens who founded it named it after the village they’d emigrated from.
Accent: None of us have one.
Loud family life: Oyeah.
Insistence on heavy Italian food: What else is there?
Hand talking: It’s innate. Deal with it.
Names like Vinnie: Never knew a Vinnie, but a few Vinces, and every other boy in my elementary school was named Michael. My father is Don; that was a tradition long before Puzo and Coppola made it a cliche.
I’ve been called “spaghetti-bender”. Never bothered me, but it was only said in jest.
My Slovak mother gets upset when I call myself Italian, but her people started assimilating the minute they left Liberty Island, and have been totally white bread for fifty years. Can’t call myself Slovak when I barely know what it is.
Enjoy your Kool-Aid, biobot! 
Quick hijack
I’m Jewish and I’m often asked by people who don’t know me if I am Italian. I tell them I’m Eastern Euopean and they give me a baffled look. Then I tell them I’m Jewish, and they seem to be thinking “ah, well, that explains it then.”
Whatever
The best line I ever heard about this was that “Italian are just happy Jews” Yes, a little racist, but funny.