Bosjesman, noun

Forms:
α. Boschjesman, BosheesmanShow more Boschjesman, Bosheesman, Boshie-man, Boshies-man, Boshis-man, Bosjeman, Bosjesman, Bossies Mann, Bosyesman;
β. Boscheman, BoschmanShow more Boscheman, Boschman, Boshman;
γ. Boejesman, BojesmanShow more Boejesman, Bojesman, Boojesman.
Origin:
DutchShow more Dutch, bosch or (diminutive) boschje, bosje bush + linking phoneme -s- + man man; originally meaning ‘bush man’ or bandit, Bosjesman was a Dutch name for a member of the San people (see quotation 1992).
obs.
1. Plural Bosjesmanns, Bosjesmans, Bosjesmen. San sense 1. So (obsolete) Bosjes menschen or Bosjes people noun phrases, Bosjes woman noun phrase, and Boschie noun [see -ie]. Also attributive, and figurative. Cf. Bush adjective2.
α.
1786 G. Forster tr. of A. Sparrman’s Voy. to Cape of G.H. I. 197There is another species of Hottentots, who have got the name of Boshies-men, from dwelling in woody or mountainous places.
1786 G. Forster tr. of A. Sparrman’s Voy. to Cape of G.H. II. 31He had caught..three old Boshies-women with their children, with an intention to take them home to his master for slaves.
1795 C.R. Hopson tr. of C.P. Thunberg’s Trav. I. 132These Hottentots were Boshiesmen, of a dark brown complexion.
1795 F. Kersteins in G.M. Theal Rec. of Cape Col. (1897) I. 168They are incessantly harrassed by the Bossies Manns (a Species of Hottentots).
1798 Earl Macartney in S.D. Naudé Kaapse Plakkaatboek (1950) V. 141The Bosheesmen are to be..left in possession of their just rights and habitations and are not to be molested..on any pretence whatsoever.
1799 Lady A. Barnard Lett. to Henry Dundas (1973) 187There is something singularly delicate in the make of the Boshie men, their arms so finely turned — hands so small.
1804 R. Percival Acct of Cape of G.H. 95The Boschies are looked upon as of a more cruel, hardened and savage disposition than the Hottentots at the Cape.
1812 A. Plumptre tr. of H. Lichtenstein’s Trav. in Sn Afr. (1928) I. 56The Bosjesman race. [Note] A tribe of savage Hottentots who lurk about among the shrubs and bushes, whence they sally out to plunder travellers.
1828 Ordinance 49 in Stat. Law of Cape of G.H. (1862) 128It shall and may be lawful for the Governor of this colony..to authorise and direct the admission into the colony of any Kafirs, Gonaquas, Tambookies, Griquas, Bosjesmen, Bechuanas, Mantatees, Namaquas, or other natives of the interior of Africa.
1847 J. Barrow Autobiog. Memoir 174A singular people, known by the name of Bosjesman, from their living and concealing themselves among the bushes or thickets.
[1873 W.G. Atherstone in A.M.L. Robinson Sel. Articles from Cape Monthly Mag. (1978) 99The Boer..called it simply ‘kaup’,..the home of the ostrich and the wild baboon, and the still wilder men of the rocks and bush, die bosjes menschen.]
1876 F. Boyle Savage Life 3The diamond country was haunted by the dreaded Bushmen or Bosjesmen, and kindred tribes.
[1992 Weekend Post 15 Aug. (Leisure) 5The Khoikhoi, their nearest relatives, called her people San; the Dutch named them Bosjemans. They themselves had no name for their ethnic group, referring by name only to their own bands and the few other bands they knew.]
β.
[1773 J. Cook in J. Hawkesworth Acct of Voy. III. 386All..are friendly and peaceable, except one clan that is settled to the eastward, which the Dutch call Boschmen, and these live entirely by plunder, or rather by theft.]
1790 tr. of F. Le Vaillant’s Trav. I. 326He took the field, at the head of his people, to repel the Boshmen who came to disturb his repose.
1798 Lady A. Barnard in Lord Lindsay Lives of Lindsays (1849) III. 457I cannot think this was a real Boschewoman, her countenance had so much of the Hottentot mildness in it.
1800 W. Johnston tr. of Fra Paolino’s Voy. to E. Indies 448In the interior parts there is a kind of wild Hottentots, called Boshmen.
1819 G.M. Keith Voy. 42Locusts are..esteemed excellent food by the Boshmans, by whom they are dried and kept for use.
1827 Reports of Commissioners upon Finances at Cape of G.H. 42That unfortunate race of men called ‘Boschmen’.
1838 J.E. Alexander Exped. into Int. I. 51Leopards and Boschmans are sometimes troublesome in this district.
1838 J.E. Alexander Exped. into Int. II. 196It is believed in the land that some of the Bosch-people can change themselves into wolves or lions when they like.
1838 J.E. Alexander Exped. into Int. II. 197A Boschwoman carrying a child on her back.
1854 H. Miller Footprints of Creator (1870) 156It is only the squalid savages and degraded boschmen of creation that have their feeble teeth and tiny stings steeped in venom.
γ.
1821 Missionary Notices Dec.Bojeman’s tribe, who appear to be very numerous in this quarter.
1832 Graham’s Town Jrnl 25 Oct. 172Petrus Klaas,..Jonker Keizer,..Boojesmen or Bushmen.
1968 F.C. Metrowich Frontier Flames 10Coenrad’s hatred of the English was well known. He told Gaika they were ‘the Boejesmans of the sea.’
2. rare. San sense 2.
α.
1907 C. Dickens Reprinted Pieces 106His cry of ‘Qu-u-u-u-aaa!’ (Bosjesman for something desperately insulting, I have no doubt).
Plural Bosjesmanns, Bosjesmans, Bosjesmen. San sense 1. So (obsolete) Bosjes menschen or Bosjes people noun phrases, Bosjes woman noun phrase, and Boschie noun [see -ie]. Also attributive, and figurative.
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17731992

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boschvark, nounn.Bosjesmansthee, nounn.
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