Scotchman, noun

Origin:
EnglishShow more Special sense of general English; see quotation 1879.
1. Obsolete except in historical contexts A florin.
1879 R.J. Atcherley Trip to Boërland 55In dealing with the Kafirs I frequently heard the term ‘Scotchman’ applied to a two-shilling piece: and upon enquiry was informed that an enterprising gentleman of that nationality having once passed a large number of florins to the Kafirs as half-crown pieces, the latter had ever since christened the florin ‘Scotchman’.
1887 H. Rider Haggard Jess (1901) 92Jantje..spat upon the ‘Scotchman,’ as the natives of that part of Africa call a two-shilling piece.
1911 P. Gibbon Margaret Harding 275‘Did he give any message?’ ‘No,’ replied Fat Mary. ‘Jus’ stink-flowers, an’ give me Scotchman.’ ‘Scotchman’ is Kafir slang for a florin; it has for origin a myth reflecting on the probity of a great race.
1913 C. Pettman Africanderisms 433Scotchman,..Is said to have originated thus: a certain Scotchman employed a number of natives at half a crown a day, at the end of the engagement he palmed off upon the unsophisticated labourers a number of florins as half-crowns, it was not until they tried to pass them as half-crowns that they discovered how they had been ‘had’.
1983 V.S. Forbes Informant, Fish Hoek, Western CapeA ‘Scotchman’ is a florin which the canny Scots are alleged to have passed off as half-crowns to gullible blacks.
1988 C.J. Skead Informant, Port Elizabeth (now Gqeberha), Eastern CapeWhat, when it’s not a person from Scotland, is a Scotchman in South Africa? Answer: The name once used for a florin (two shilling piece) as used mostly in Natal and Zululand.
2. obsolete. An early form of scotsman.
1913 C. Pettman Africanderisms 434Scotchman, Dentex præorbitalis, Günther, is known by this name in Natal.
A florin.
An early form of scotsman.
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18791988