gocum, noun

/ˈɡəʊkəm/
Forms:
gaukum, ghaukumShow more Also gaukum, ghaukum, ghocum, ghôghôm, ghokum, ghurkum, goukom, t’gokum, and with initial capital.
Origin:
Afrikaans, NamaShow more Adaptation of Afrikaans ghôkum, ghôkom, perhaps related to Nama ‖gũ juicy, full of seeds.
Hottentot(’s) fig, see Hottentot noun sense 6 a. Also attributive.
1883 M.A. Carey-Hobson Farm in Karoo 42‘Master likes Gocums?’ said the boy. ‘Hottentot figs very good.’ ‘It is the fruit of the figbearing Mysembryanthemum, and many people are very fond of it. You had better let him show you how to peel them, for if you get any of the very saline outer covering, you will find it extremely disagreeable.’
1890 J.F. Sewell Private Diary (1983) 119I have not taken any more medicine for some days but I have been eating Goukoms which are a good blood purifier.
1894 E. Glanville Fair Colonist 224On the shoreward slopes there was a covering of soft-wooded trees, shrubs and flesh-leaved ghocums, forming a thick carpet.
1901 E. Emslie Diary. 25 Dec.Home Xmas day a nice day went to sleep after dinner & then went for Ghocums.
1901 E. Emslie Diary. 26 Dec.Am busy making Ghocum jam for Charlotte.
1902 H.J. Duckitt Hilda’s Diary of Cape Hsekeeper 283The leaves of ghokum or ‘Hottentot fig’..bruised and strained, are excellent as a gargle.
1912 E. London Dispatch 28 Sept. 12 (Pettman)We roamed the veld and bush in search of wild fruits — myrtle apples, ‘t’gokums,’ ‘gwenyas,’ etc. — which I presume are still to be found by the enterprising East London youth.
1924 Cape Argus 1 Feb. 7Crystallised ghurkums and naartjies are novel delicacies which she expects to put on the market.
1949 J. Allen Memoirs. 48There were many wild fruits growing in the bush, such as zuurberries, gocums, sour figs and others.
1970 Evening Post 10 Oct. (Mag. Sect.) 3Gocums..are usually ready to be picked for jam in December and January. Gocum Jam. Peel the gocums and wash them well. Add one pound of sugar to every one pound of gocums.
1976 A.P. Brink Instant in Wind 153He brings her a concoction of ghaukum leaves picked far below the snowline that afternoon.
Hottentot(’s) fig, see Hottentot noun sense 6 a. Also attributive.
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go-away, nounn.goduka, nounn.
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