kukama, noun

Forms:
Also kokama, kookaam.
Origin:
Setswana
obs.
The gemsbok (sense 1), Oryx gazella.
1839 W.C. Harris Wild Sports 264The species (sc. the sable antelope) was evidently not recognised by the natives, although..they pronounced it to be kookaam, which signifies the oryx, an animal of such extremely rare occurrence in Moselekatse’s country, that they had in all probability never seen it.
1852 J.E. Gray Catal. of Specimens of Mammalia in Brit. Museum III. 105Oryx gazella. The Kookaam or Gemsboc. Horns straight, shelving backwards.
1857 D. Livingstone Missionary Trav. 136The zebra, giraffe, eland, and kukama, have been seen mere skeletons from decay of their teeth as well as from disease.
1871 J. Mackenzie Ten Yrs N. of Orange River 260I gave chase under the impression that the half-dozen creatures before me were elands, but as I approached I could see that they were gemsbucks or kukamas.
1883 J. Mackenzie Day-Dawn in Dark Places 48The kukama (gemsbuck or oryx) fleetest of the antelopes.
[1888 J.S. Kingsley Riverside Nat. Hist. V. 326The Oryx capensis of South Africa, or Gemsbok of the Dutch colonists, Kokama of the Bechuanas, is even more striking in its colouring.]
The gemsbok (sense 1), Oryx gazella.
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