baviaan’s touw, noun phrase

Forms:
babiaan-touw, babian touwShow more Also babiaan-touw, babian touw, baviaan’s tauw, baviaanstouw, baviaan’s-tow, baviaan-touw, bavianstau, bavians tow, and with initial capitals.
Plurals:
baviaan’s touwe.
Origin:
South African Dutch, EnglishShow more South African Dutch, baviaan baboon (+ English possessive -’s) + touw rope.
obs.
monkey-rope. See also baviaan sense 2.
[1773 C.P. Thunberg in C.A. Smith Common Names (1966) 134Incolis, Bavian’s tou.]
1790 tr. of F. Le Vaillant’s Trav. II. 243Even the smallest branches of the trees, shot forth filaments that hung down to the earth...These filaments, which are almost innumerable, bear no leaves, and the natives call them bavians tow, or bavians ropes, because..apes climb to the tops of the trees in order to reach the fruit of the plants.
1821 C.I. Latrobe Jrnl of Visit 213Bushrope, or bavianstau, a species of creeper resembling a rope, grows here in abundance, and nearly envelopes some of the loftiest trees, to the destruction of their growth and beauty.
1824 W.J. Burchell in C.A. Smith Common Names (1966) 134Baviaanstouw, Caulis funiformis (like cables or large ropes).
1844 J. Backhouse Narr. of Visit 151A vine was climbing among the trees; it had heart-shaped leaves and slender branches which are used for cordage; it is called Baviaan-touw, Baboon-rope.
1861 ‘A Lady’ Life at Cape (1963) 44We also came across..the baviaan’s tauw, or ‘baboon ropes’ ascending and descending in cord-like ladders from many a monarch of the ravines.
1877 J.F. Sewell Private Diary (1983) 21Gillespie’s Two Sons..were cutting Babian Tou in the Beach Bush.
1883 M.A. Carey-Hobson Farm in Karoo 48They soon pulled themselves up the almost perpendicular pathway by the Baviaans touw or monkey rope,..a climbing plant that grows in great profusion in many of the South African kloofs.
1906 B. Stoneman Plants & their Ways 130Secamone (Bavian’s Touw), Asclepias (the milk bush)..and all their family have their pollen in masses.
1914 Farmer’s Annual 301A C.P. correspondent sends a specimen of ‘Baviaans’s Touw’ and asks for advice as to the best means of eradication.
1949 J. Rose Innes in F.G. Butler When Boys Were Men (1969) 271Picking our way among great trees, draped with moss and festooned with a tangle of wild vine and babiaan-touw.
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17731949

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obsolete or obsolescent
baviaan spinnekop, noun phrasen. phr.bawo, nounn.
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