Heikum, noun

/ˈheɪkəm/
Forms:
Also Heikom, Heykom.
Plurals:
usually unchanged, formerly Heikums.
Origin:
Khoikhoi, NamaShow more From Khoikhoi Hei-//om ‘bush-sleeper’, from Nama heib bush + //om to sleep.
A member of a Khoisan people originally living at the Cape, but long settled in Namibia. Also attributive. See also Saan noun2.
1731 G. Medley tr. of P. Kolben’s Present State of Cape of G.H. I. 80Bordering on the Chamtouers, North-Eastward, lies the Nation of the Heykoms.
1795 C.R. Hopson tr. of C.P. Thunberg’s Trav. I. 308Still farther to the eastward, following the coast, one finds the Kamtours nation, then the Heykoms, and lastly the Caffres.
1928 E.H.L. Schwarz Kalahari & its Native Races 167The Heikum typically has strong Negro characteristics, shown in the large coarse features, tall stature, and black colour of the skin; many of them have mixed with the Qung and are dwarfs.
1930 I. Schapera KhoiSan Peoples 34To the west and south-west of the Kung in South-West Africa are the Hei-//om or Heikum (‘tree dwellers’), who are scattered over a large extent of the country.
1956 A.G. McRae Hill Called Grazing 133He grew into a tough little desert rat, able to..hunt his food with a bow and arrow, like the ones the Heikum Bushmen use, but with no poison on the arrow tips.
1966 J.P. van S. Bruwer S.W. Afr.: Disputed Land 15There are four distinct sections of Bushmen still living in the Territory...The four sections are the !Khung, the Heikum, the Naron and the !Kgu or Mbarakwengo.
1969 J.M. White Land God Made in Anger 225Other groups in South West include the seldom-seen River Bushmen, who paddle their dug-out makorros on the Okavango, and the so-called Saan people. The latter are an ancient stock, taller and darker than the normal Bushman, who linger on in a small tribe called the Heikom.
1976 O. Levinson Story of Namibia 25Only one tribe survived — the Hei//om (men who sleep in the bush) — generally incorrectly classed as Bushmen but who in fact are the last survivors of the Saan tribe. Possibly of mixed Bushman and Hottentot blood, these Hei//om, who are taller and blacker than the Bushmen, once lived on the Clayveld of the Etosha basin. [Note] Hei//om is commonly written Heikom.
1988 [see San sense 1].
A member of a Khoisan people originally living at the Cape, but long settled in Namibia. Also attributive.
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Heer, interjectionint. & nounn.heit, heita, interjectionint.
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