α. 1600s Hatten-tote, 1600s Hotantot, 1600s Hotentot, 1600s Hottamtot, 1600s Hottantot, 1600s– Hottentot, 1700s Hotten-tot, 1700s Hottentote, 1800s Hotnetot.
β. 1600s Hattintoe, 1800s Ottentoo, 1900s– Hottentoo (historical).
Hottentotn.adj.
/ˈhɒt(ə)ntɒt/, U.S. /ˈhɑd(ə)nˌtɑt/, South African English /ˈhɒt(ə)ntɒt/The word Hottentot (when referring to the people, or their language) is generally considered both archaic and offensive; the word Khoekhoe (or a variant: see Khoekhoe n.) is now usually used in its place.
A. n.
1.
a. = Khoekhoe n. 1.Since early visitors to the Cape seldom distinguished between the Khoekhoe and the San, some of the earlier citations for this sense might belong at sense A. 1b.
ΘΚΠ
the world > people > ethnicities > peoples of Africa > peoples of Southern Africa > [noun] > Khoekhoe
Hottentot1677
hodmandod1697
Khoekhoe1801
hotnot1846
Tottie1849
1677 T. Herbert Some Years Trav. (rev. ed.) 17 While these Hatten-totes were in our company their hands held, their feet having thereby the greater liberty to steal, which with their toes they can do exactly.
1686 R. Southwell Let. 29 May in Petty–Southwell Corr. (1928) 201 The Cafres and Hattintoes never lose a Friend or Relation but they cutt off a Joynt from one of their Fingers—soe much they scorne the acquisition of Mourning Rings.
1731 G. Medley tr. P. Kolb Present State Cape Good-Hope I. 25 The name of Hottentot does by no means belong to them any other wise than as a nick-name given them by the Europeans.
1790 J. White Jrnl. Voy. New S. Wales 91 Observations..he has made on the Hottentots, Caffres, and the countries they inhabit, will doubtlessly be valuable.
1829 W. C. J. Lewin Autobiogr. in Lewin Lett. (1909) I. ii. 254 I eyed the solitary Hottentot who one met sauntering along as a creature of half savage nature.
1886 Marquis of Salisbury Speech 15 May You would not confide free representative institutions to the Hottentots, for instance.
1930 I. Schapera Khoisan Peoples S. Afr. iii. x. 239 There is little information as to the existence of food taboos among the Hottentots in more recent times.
1948 in N. Mandela Struggle is my Life (1978) ii. i. 26 Coloureds..descend in part at least from the aboriginal Hottentots who..are original children of Black Africa.
1974 J. R. Baker Race xvii. 318 The Hottentots, Korana, and Bushmen are not to be regarded as people adapted by natural selection to a desert life.
1991 Weekend Post (Port Elizabeth) 9 May (Leisure) 3 The name Hottentot is derived from the chant which accompanied a characteristic dance..which Dutch settlers encouraged homeless Khoikhoi to perform in exchange for liquor.
b. The Khoekhoe and San peoples collectively; = Khoisan n. 1. Cf. bushman n.
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the world > people > ethnicities > peoples of Africa > peoples of Southern Africa > [noun] > other peoples of Southern Africa
Zimba1625
Tambouki1786
Hottentot1795
Morolong1815
Oorlam1815
Barolong1823
Tembu1827
Fingo1829
Ngwaketsea1832
Ovaherero1851
Lunda1857
Herero1862
Swazi1878
Magwamba1884
Khoisan1929
Rolong1937
1795 C. R. Hopson tr. C. P. Thunberg Trav. (ed. 2) II. 185 Hottentots is the common denomination of all those nations which inhabit the southern angle of Africa, and are extended on either side of the Cape of Good Hope.
1881 T. Hahn Tsuni-‖Goam 2 We should apply the term Hottentot to the whole race, and call the two families, each by the native name, that is the one, the Khoikhoi, the so-called Hottentot proper; the other the Sān (Sā) or Bushmen.
1924 A. C. Haddon Races of Man (ed. 2) 41 An early migration of Hamites mixed with this population [sc. Bushmen] and gave cattle and elements of their language to the mixed people who in South Africa are known as Hottentots.
1973 P. A. Whitney Blue Fire 118 ‘Hottentot’ itself meant stammerer and was what the Dutch called the Bushmen because of their odd language.
1983 D. Hughes et al. Compl. Bk. S. Afr. Wine 16 Bands of Hottentots (Xhoisan, or Capoid, people), the only indigenous population here..had no settled community or agriculture.
c. South African. A member of the Hottentot Corps (later the Cape Corps), a military corps of Khoekhoe soldiers; spec. = pandour n. 2. Now historical.
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society > armed hostility > warrior > soldier > soldier of specific force or unit > [noun]
spahi1562
legionnaire1595
strelitz1603
Croat1623
deli1667
Croatian1700
lancer1712
highlander1725
lambs1744
royals1762
light-bob1778
fly-slicer1785
Life Guardsman1785
royals?1795
Hottentot1796
yeoman1798
pandour1800
Faugh-a-Ballaghsc1811
forty-two man1816
kilty1842
Zouave1848
bumblerc1850
Inniskilliner1853
blue cap1857
turco1860
Zou-Zou1860
mudlark1878
king's man1883
Johnny1888
Piffer1892
evzone1897
horse gunner1897
dink1906
army ranger1910
grognard1912
Jock1914
chocolate soldier1915
Cook's tourist1915
dinkum1916
Anzaca1918
choc1917
ranger1942
Chindit1943
Desert Rat1944
Green Beret1949
1796 J. H. Craig in G. M. Theal Rec. Cape Colony (1897) I. 455 The Hottentots..must on no account whatever be permitted..to be guilty of any sort of Insolence or outrage towards the Inhabitants.
1835 C. L. Stretch Jrnl. (1988) 56 Two companies of Hottentots were ordered to scour the bush in the vicinity of the Amatola.
1846 J. Hare Let. 25 Aug. in Corr. State Kaffir Tribes 171 in Parl. Papers 1847 XXXVIII. 27 A force..should proceed from the Tarka side to co-operate with Captain Hogg's force, and to be joined by the Klip Plat Hottentots from Shiloh.
1972 Standard Encycl. Southern Afr. III. 28 The Hottentots..became the Cape Corps under the British, and in 1802..became known as the Hottentot Light Infantry.
2. derogatory (offensive). In extended use. A person of inferior intellect or culture; an uncivilized or ignorant person.
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society > society and the community > customs, values, and civilization > civilization > lack of civilization > [noun] > uncivilized person
wild mana1400
woodwose?a1400
savaginec1450
woodward1488
savagea1544
woodman1601
barbarian1604
woodist1613
wilding1621
brutigenist1631
catamountaina1640
Caliban1678
semi-barbarian1692
Hottentot1710
semi-savage1807
pagan1879
society > society and the community > social class > the common people > low rank or condition > lout or boor > [noun]
carter1509
clumpertonc1534
club1542
pig1546
lout1548
clinchpoop1555
clout-shoe1563
loose-breech1575
hoyden1593
clunch1602
clod1607
camel1609
clusterfist1611
loon1619
Grobian1621
clota1637
hoyde1636
Hottentot1710
yahoo1726
polisson1866
mucker1884
bohunk1908
hairy ape1931
cafone1949
trog1956
oafo1959
1710 Divine Rights of Brit. Nation & Constit. Vindicated 112 Our British Hottentotes, the Perkinites.
1726 N. Amhurst Terræ-filius (ed. 2) xxxv. 190 Surprized..to find a place, which he had heard so much renown'd for learning, fill'd with such grey-headed novices and reverend hotten~tots.
1763 Brit. Mag. July 338/2 England..yet abounded greatly with such kinds of Hottentots.
1831 New-Eng. Mag. July 39 Oh barbarian! Hottentot and Kangaroo! Never will I live with a man who does not eat mustard with his beef!
1871 M. J. Holmes Millibank ix. 67 The girl is growing up a perfect Hottentot, with no more manners or style than Dame Floyd herself.
1921 Times 29 Aug. 5/4 Grown-up men and women calling themselves gentlemen and gentlewomen, who..were little better than Hottentots in disguise.
1998 Washington Times (Nexis) 31 Mar. a4 Everybody thinks all we do down here is drop our drawers and behave like Hottentots.
3. Also Hottentot fish. Any of several brownish or bronze-coloured sea breams of the genus Pachymetopon (family Sparidae), popular in South Africa as food and game fishes, esp. P. blochii.
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the world > animals > fish > superorder Acanthopterygii (spiny fins) > order Perciformes (perches) > suborder Percoidei > [noun] > member of family Girellidae
Hottentot fish1731
sweep1840
luderick1898
nigger1927
black perch1966
1731 G. Medley tr. P. Kolb Present State Cape Good-Hope II. 196 The Cape Europeans call 'em Hottentot Fish. That Name was given 'em by the first Dutch settlers there, on Account of the said Settlers buying some of them of the Hottentots.
1798 S. H. Wilcocke tr. J. S. Stavorinus Voy. E.-Indies I. 560 The Hottentot-fish, which is like a sea-bream.
1838 J. E. Alexander Exped. Discov. Interior Afr. I. 88 The delicious Roman fish, Hottentot.
1880 Cape Monthly Mag. Mar. 162 As fast as I could haul them in, came up bouncing fat Hottentot fish, varied now and then by a grand white stumpnose.
1921 Ann. S. Afr. Mus. 21 721 The Hottentot is one of the commonest Cape fishes.
1949 J. L. B. Smith Sea Fishes S. Afr. 276 The Hottentot slipped away with the next wave.
2002 National Geographic Aug. 10/2 Among the gray hottentot fish, scarlet romans, and other reef denizens gliding between the kelp stipes were shysharks.
4. Any of the languages of the Khoekhoe; = Khoekhoe n. 2.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > languages of the world > African languages > Khoisan > [noun] > Nama
Hottentot1836
Namaqua1851
Hottentotese1873
Nama1883
1836 A. F. Gardiner Narr. Journey Zoolu Country 102 The..terms caross, kraal and assegai..are generally believed to have been a corruption of Dutch and Hottentot.
1910 Encycl. Brit. IV. 871/2 Their language..has in common with Hottentot..the peculiar sounds known as ‘clicks’.
1953 J. B. Carroll Study of Lang. ii. 57 He..doubts very much the validity of certain early theories that such languages..as Bantu and Hottentot are in any way related to the Semitic-Hamitic group.
1997 J. P. Legg Cape Eng. & its Future in Eng. World-Wide 18 272 A few words of Hottentot and Malay, and a sprinkling of Kaffir.
B. adj.
Of or belonging to the Khoekhoe (or sometimes Khoesan) people or their language. Also (derogatory): uncivilized; ill-bred, unrefined.
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the world > people > ethnicities > peoples of Africa > peoples of Southern Africa > [adjective] > Khoekhoe
Hottentot1708
Hottentotic1794
Hottentotish1795
1708 tr. F. Leguat New Voy. E.-Indies 238 Those Hottentot Children, who are most conversant with the Inhabitants of the Cape.
1731 G. Medley tr. P. Kolb Present State Cape Good-Hope I. 81 The Hottentot Stammering, or clashing of the tongue in speaking.
1797 Encycl. Brit. VIII. 684/2 The Hottentot language is..said to be a composition of the most strange and disagreeable sounds.
1828 J. Philip Res. S. Afr. I. p. xviii The missionaries..were called ‘Hottentot predicants’ (ministers), by way of contempt.
1846 C. G. F. Gore Sketches Eng. Char. I. 229 In what Hottentot ignorance these poor creatures are at present reared.
1897 J. Bryce Impressions S. Afr. 77 From unions between Hottentot women and the Dutch sprang the mixed race whom the Dutch call Bastards and the English Griquas.
1924 Internat. Jrnl. Psycho-anal. 5 41 It might perhaps be not without significance that three of the five patients informed me of their own accord that they possessed ‘Hottentot nymphae’.
1933 I. Schapera Early Cape Hottentots p. xii In Hottentot mythology Gaunab figured as a malevolent chief.
1974 J. R. Baker Race vi. 97 They were met by Hottentot herdsmen.
2007 Sunday Tribune (Nexis) 7 Oct. 17 The story looks at the lifestyle of the Hottentot people,..their betrayal by the British and the Boers and, finally, their trek to their new home in Kokstad.
Compounds
Hottentot apron n. [after French tablier des Hottentotes (1805 or earlier); compare earlier tablier n. 2a] = tablier n. 2.
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the world > life > the body > sex organs > female sex organs > [noun] > vulva > labia
lip1598
nymphs1615
labium1634
nympha1646
tablier1789
Hottentot apron1833
1833 London Med. & Surg. Jrnl. 2 431 A peculiar formation occurring in many families and branches of the Aethiopic race, on which the name of flesh-apron, or Hottentot apron, has been bestowed.
1956 C. Winick Dict. Anthropol. (1957) 33 There is some controversy as to whether the Hottentot apron is a genetic trait or an intentional deformation.
1992 A. Walker Possessing Secret of Joy xxi. 276 By the time they reached puberty..they had acquired what was to become known, at least among European anthropologists, as ‘the Hottentot apron’.
ΚΠ
1842 C. J. F. Bunbury in London Jrnl. Bot. 1 557 One of the most common plants of this tribe in the neighbourhood of Cape Town..is the Disperis Capensis, sometimes called the Hottentot Bonnet, the shape of its purple and green flower reminding one of some fanciful head-dress.
Hottentot bread n. (also Hottentot's bread) [originally after German †Hottentotts-Brod root of the arum lily (1719 in the passage translated in quot. 1731); in sense ‘elephant's foot’ probably after South African Dutch hottentotsbrood (1869 or earlier; Afrikaans hottentotsbrood)] any of several South African plants formerly used to produce a food resembling bread, esp. elephant's foot, Dioscorea elephantipes (family Dioscoreaceae), a climbing plant related to the yam, having a starchy tuberous stem; (formerly also) †the root of the arum lily, Zantedeschia aethiopica, which is eaten by pigs in South Africa (obsolete; cf. pig lily n. at pig n.1 Compounds 2b.).
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular food plant or plant product > particular vegetables > [noun] > root vegetables > yam > elephant's foot
Hottentot bread1731
tortoise-plant1866
1731 G. Medley tr. P. Kolb Present State Cape Good-Hope II. 223 The root of the Arum..is ordinarily call'd Hottentot-Bread. They boil out its acrimony in two or three fresh waters, and then dry it in the sun.
1858 R. Hogg Veg. Kingdom 718 The root~stock of Testudinaria elephantipes, called Elephant's Foot or Hottentot's Bread, forms a large, fleshy mass covered with a rough and cracked bark.
1929 D. Reitz Commando 240 A strange growth known as ‘Hottentot's bread’ (Encephalartos Altensteinii), a wild fruit not unlike a large pine-apple.
1998 National Gardening Apr. 76/3 I'm looking for seeds of..elephant's foot or Hottentot's bread (Dioscorea elephantipes ).
Hottentot cherry n. (also Hottentot's cherry) the evergreen shrub Maurocenia frangularia (family Cealstraceae), native to South Africa; (also) the small edible berry produced by this plant.
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the world > plants > particular plants > trees and shrubs > shrubs > non-British shrubs > [noun] > African
Aspalathus1601
othonne1601
honey flower1712
amber tree1719
Melianthus1731
rhinoceros bush1731
Hottentot cherry1740
sparmannia1801
renosterbos1822
ratsbane1846
black parsley1861
tail-grape1884
milk-tree1885
poison-bush1885
rooibos1893
Natal bottlebrush1907
moonflower1913
1740 P. Miller Gardeners Dict. (new ed.) at Frangula Frangula sempervirens, folio rigido subrotundo. Hort. Elth. Evergreen berry-bearing Alder, with a round stiff leaf, commonly called the Hottentot Cherry.
1773 W. Hanbury Compl. Body Planting & Gardening II. 372/1 Cape Cherry, Maurocenia, or Hottentot Cherry, rises with a woody, branching stem to ten or twelve feet high.
1880 Handbk. S. Afr. (S. W. Silver & Co.) (ed. 3) 138 Hottentot Cherry is the fruit of Maurocenia Capensis..a shrub growing in the ravines of Table Mountain.
1997 B. van Wyk & P. van Wyk Field Guide Trees Southern Afr. 326 Hottentot's cherry... Evergreen shrub or small tree; occurring in mountain ravines and in coastal bush on rocky seashores.
Hottentot fig n. (also Hottentot's fig) [originally after German †Hottentotts Feige (1719 in the passage translated in quot. 1731; now Hottentottenfeige)] a drought-tolerant creeping plant, Carpobrotus edulis (family Aizoaceae; formerly included in the genus Mesembryanthemum), originally native to South Africa, but introduced elsewhere and in some areas now considered to be an invasive weed; (also) the edible fruit of this plant.
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the world > plants > particular plants > plants and herbs > non-British plants or herbs > [noun] > African plants > other African plants
Hottentot fig1731
wait-a-bit1785
goat's foot1787
Strelitzia1789
aandblom1793
grapple-plant1822
tile-root1829
neb-neb1839
Cape tulip1850
bird-of-paradise flower1855
dimorphotheca1861
aandblommetjie1870
lithops1938
1731 G. Medley tr. P. Kolb Present State Cape Good-Hope I. 141 Some women go into the field to gather the stalks of what they call Hottentot-figs.
1800 tr. J. J. Labillardière Voy. in Search of La Pérouse I. 130 Our Hottentot marched on with his pipe on his mouth, and regaling himself from time to time with the Hottentot's fig..which grew among the sands on the road side.
1862 L. Duff-Gordon Lett. from Cape (1925) 83 Hottentot figs are rather nice—a green fig-shaped thing, containing..a salt-sweet insipid glue, which you suck out.
1988 M. Branch Explore Cape Flora 19 The huge purple flowers of the..Hottentot's fig grow well in sand near the seaside.
1991 Daily Tel. 3 Oct. 7/2 When the Hottentot fig is destroyed by winter frosts it smothers the clifftop in an inert matting that prevents the growth of other species.
Hottentot fish n. (see sense A. 3).
Hottentot god n. (also Hottentot's god) South African the praying mantis, said to have been formerly venerated by the Khoesan peoples.
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the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > subclass Pterygota > [noun] > division Exopterygota or Hemimetabola > order Dictyoptera > suborder Mantodea > member of family Mantidae > mantis religiosa (praying mantis)
praying locust1646
devil's horse1760
Hottentot god1785
praying insect1817
praying mantis1895
1731 G. Medley tr. P. Kolb Present State Cape Good-Hope I. 98 The Hottentots..adore..a certain Insect... To this little winged Deity, when ever they set Sight upon it, they render the highest Tokens of Veneration.]
1785 G. Forster tr. A. Sparrman Voy. Cape Good Hope I. 211 A genus of insects (the mantis) called by the colonists the Hottentot's god.
1853 F. P. Fleming Kaffraria 79 If touched..it puts the two fore-legs, slightly but, in an attitude of prayer, which has gained for it the cognomen of the praying Mantis, or Hottentot god.
1962 Cape Times (Week-end Mag.) 10/1 I like Hottentot Gods, bloodthirsty little savages as they may be.
1980 A. J. Blignaut Dead End Road 57 The Hottentot's God..was praying for you. But..you're past praying for.
Hottentot pie n. now historical a kind of rich savoury pie made with various types of meat.
ΚΠ
1769 E. Raffald Experienced Eng. House-keeper vi. 135 A Hottentot Pye. Boil and bone two Calf's-Feet, clean very well a Calf's-Chitterling, boil it and chop it small [etc.].
1895 G. A. Sala Thorough Good Cook (1896) 224 Hottentot Pie. Bone two calf's feet; boil and chop small some chitterlings; take two chicken, cut them up as for eating; put all into a stew-pan [etc.].
1977 B. Cleeve Kate 188 In the middle of helping himself to some Hottentot pie.
Hottentot's bean n. (also Hottentot bean) South African a shrub or tree of the southern African genus Schotia (family Fabaceae), esp. S. afra, having an edible seed borne in flattened woody pods and resembling a broad bean.
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the world > plants > particular plants > trees and shrubs > non-British trees or shrubs > African trees or shrubs > [noun] > other African trees or shrubs
keurboom1731
silver-tree1731
witteboom1799
Hottentot's bean1801
melkhouta1823
monkey apple1824
witgatboom1824
Hottentot's bean tree1833
spek-boom1834
mopane1854
Welwitschia1862
ambatch1863
miombo1864
pith tree1864
porkwood1875
tree purslane1882
buffalo-horn1887
monkey guava1887
bush willow1917
melkboom1917
msasa1923
rooibos1932
miraa1945
ovangkol1972
pigeon wood1972
tambotie1973
1801 J. Barrow Acct. Trav. Interior S. Afr. 1797–8 I. 189 Not so with the Hottentot bean... This plant is the African Lignum vitae.
1965 F. von Breitenbach Indigenous Trees S. Afr. ii. 327 Schotia afra... Hottentot's Bean... The roasted beans are eaten by some tribes.
Hottentot's bean tree n. = Hottentot's bean n.
ΚΠ
1833 S. Kay Trav. Caffraria 106 The Hottentot's bean tree.
1921 T. R. Sim Native Timbers S. Afr. 192 Hottentots Bean Tree. Schotia, sps.
Hottentot's head n. a southern African cycad, Stangeria eriopus (family Stangeriaceae), having a thick trunk and large fern-like leaves.
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the world > plants > particular plants > trees and shrubs > conifers > [noun] > cycads
Zamia1819
cycad1845
palm fern1876
Hottentot's head1884
1884 W. Miller Dict. Eng. Names Plants Hottentot's-head, Stangeria paradoxa.
1973 Eng. Usage Southern Afr. 4 21 Hottentot head,..cycads with thick trunks;..single cones develop on the stems with a silvery pubescence at first, but turn brown with age.
1988 Garden Hist. 16 87 Stangeria paradoxa (Hottentot's head).
Hottentot's poison-bush n. (see poison-bush n. 4).
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > eggs > [noun] > ant's eggs
Hottentot's rice1776
1776 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 66 315 They also eat the eggs of a large species of ant... They are commonly called Hottentot's rice.
Hottentot tea n. (also Hottentot's tea) any of several South African plants belonging or formerly belonging to the genus Helichrysum (family Asteraceae), esp. H. nudifolium and Plecostachys serpyllifolia, the leaves of which were formerly used to make a herbal infusion.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular food plant or plant product > tea-plant > [noun] > types of
herb of Paraguay1672
Indian tea1709
Algerian tea1728
Appalachian tea1728
Arabian tea1728
Canary tea1728
golden rod tea1728
Malay tea1728
Paraguay1728
South Sea tea1728
monarda1752
Oswego tea1752
Paraguay tea1760
Labrador tea1767
maté1768
marsh rosemary1777
blue mountain tea1785
alstonia1806
Ceylon tea1814
Canada tea1817
yerba-maté1818
honey bush1840
Wild Bergamot1843
Hottentot tea1850
kaffir tea1850
khat1858
Brazil tea1866
Mexican tea1866
St. Helena tea1875
rooibos1915
redbush1946
Hudson's Bay tea1948
bergamot1958
1850 L. Pappe Floræ Capensis Medicæ Prodromus 17 Helichrysum serpyllifolium..goes by the name of Hottentot's tea,..and is much liked by the coloured people, who infuse it as tea.
1972 Standard Encycl. Southern Afr. V. 611/1 Hottentot tea... Helichrysum orbiculare = H. serpyllifolium... Another species, which is also called Hottentot-tea, is H. nudifolium.
Derivatives
Hottenˈtotic adj. now rare of or relating to the Khoi (or Khoisan) people, lands, or language; (also derogatory) unrefined, uncivilized; brutish.
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the world > people > ethnicities > peoples of Africa > peoples of Southern Africa > [adjective] > Khoekhoe
Hottentot1708
Hottentotic1794
Hottentotish1795
1794 E. Williams Poems II. 37 On Hottentotic arts refine, let Fashion's glories all be thine.
1824 J. Gilchrist Etymol. Interpreter 14 The origin of Cossackic and Hottentotic, and of all the languages of all the uncivilized and half-civilized tribes of the earth.
1874 J. Barnard Among Gods, & other Poems 91 Once more on the Ocean despotic, We sail from the shores Hottentotic.
1900 J. M. Robertson Christianity & Mythol. i. ii. 23 M. Baudry..countered Dr. Muller before the ‘Hottentotic’ school did.
ˈHottentotish adj. (also Hottentottish) now rare = Hottentotic adj.
ΘΚΠ
the world > people > ethnicities > peoples of Africa > peoples of Southern Africa > [adjective] > Khoekhoe
Hottentot1708
Hottentotic1794
Hottentotish1795
1795 in R. Polwhele Trad. & Recoll. (1826) II. 427 The survey of a Hottentottish pilchard cellar.
1804 D. Wordsworth Jrnl. 26 Aug. (1959) I. 259 It reminded one of the house of a decayed weaver in the suburbs,..but Wm. says it was far worse, that it was quite Hottentotish.
1928 A. Noyes in Bookman Nov. 106/1 The language of the Bible is degraded by his handling... This, I say, is a little Hottentottish.
1965 in G. Conklin 13 Above Night 226 ‘Uh, yuk,’ he concluded, with an involuntary and rather nicely Hottentotish click, and withdrew into his bedroom.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2008; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
† Hottentotv.
offensive. Obsolete. rare.
intransitive. To become or live as a person without civilization or culture. Cf. Hottentot n. 2.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > customs, values, and civilization > civilization > lack of civilization > be or become uncivilized [verb (intransitive)]
Indianize1702
wilder1798
Hottentot1806
barbarize1824
to go native1901
1806 M. Edgeworth Leonora II. lviii. 76 It is lost labour to civilize him, for sooner or later he will hottentot again.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2008; most recently modified version published online September 2018).
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n.adj.1677
v.1806