dassiepis, noun

/ˈdasipəs/
Forms:
dassiespis, dassipisShow more Also dassiespis, dassipis, and (formerly) dasjespis, dassenpis.
Origin:
Afrikaans, South African DutchShow more Afrikaans (earlier South African Dutch dasjespis), dassie see dassie + pis urine.
hyraceum.
[1731 G. Medley tr. of P. Kolben’s Present State of Cape of G.H. II. 313In the Niches of the Rocks are found several bituminous Substances...There is a Sort which..the Hottentots..affirm, that ’tis the urine of Ermins mixed with very fine Dust.]
1868 L. Pappe Florae Capensis 46A remedy derived from the animal Kingdom..Hyraceum, much valued by many farmers, and well known amongst them by the rather harsh name of Dasjespis.
1868 L. Pappe Florae Capensis 47Amongst the farmers, a solution of this substance is highly spoken of as an antispasmodic in hysterics, epilepsy, convulsions of children, St. Vitus’s dance, in short in spasmodic affections of every kind.
1942 S. Cloete Hill of Doves 119‘This is dassiepis’ — she held up a small lump of something that looked like gum or bitumen.
1955 L.G. Green Karoo 176Early travellers in the Cape..were puzzled by a peculiar substance they found in some caves, black masses like pitch. Thunberg thought it was bitumen. But the Bushmen and Hottentots knew better, and so did many farmers. They call the substance klipsweet or dassipis. In the Cape Pharmacopoeia it is listed more delicately as hyracium.
1988 P.E. Raper tr. of R.J. Gordon’s Cape Trav. 1777–86 I. 222I found a large piece of dassenpis which was positioned in such a way I do not think it was urine.
1991 H. Bradford in Cosmopolitan Aug. 127A reputedly excellent abortifacient spread from the Khoisan to white settlers...It acquired an earthy Afrikaans name appropriate to its derivation from rock-rabbit urine. It was..mingled with more palatable ingredients: by mid-20th century, an Afrikaner folk recipe for abortion contained not only dassiespis, but also valerian roots, wild sage and the tips of a wild olive tree.
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17311991

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Afrikaans
dassie, nounn.dassievanger, nounn.
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