Basothon.adj.
/bəˈsuːtuː/, U.S. /bəˈsoʊdoʊ/, /bəˈsoʊθoʊ/, South African English /bəˈsuːtʊ/ A. n.
A member of a Bantu people of central southern Africa; (subsequently) a citizen or inhabitant of Lesotho (formerly Basutoland). Cf. Mosotho n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > people > ethnicities > peoples of Africa > peoples of Southern Africa > [noun] > Bantu peoples
Xhosa1801
amaXhosa1809
Matabele1823
Amapondo1824
amaZulu1829
Bapedi1835
Basotho1835
knobnose1848
Ovambo1853
Sotho1883
Tonga1891
Ronga1899
Venda1901
Pedi1912
Mopedi1928
Ndebele1930
Lobedu1933
Tsonga1937
Pondo1950
Nguni1957
the world > people > ethnicities > peoples of Africa > peoples of Southern Africa > [noun] > Bantu peoples > person
Kaffir1588
Zulu1824
Mantatee1833
Basotho1835
Mosothoa1838
knobnose1839
Manganja1859
1835 A. Smith Diary 7 Dec. (1939) I. 163 A Basutu said the hamerkop gives rain.
1837 F. Owen Diary (1926) 70 The Boers in conjunction with the Busutoos had made another attack on him.
1876 Encycl. Brit. V. 47/1 The Basutos, sometimes called Mountain Bechwanas, the fragments of several broken tribes of the Bechwana Kaffres.
1926 Blackwood's Mag. June 826/1 He is a Basuto.
1977 R. H. Palmer & N. Parsons Roots Rural Poverty Introd. 21 The trade continued into the 1830s, when Basotho came to trade with the African population of Bethulie on the Orange river.
2007 E. A. Eldredge Power in Colonial Afr. ii. 25 A series of wars against their aggressive Boer neighbors, to whom the BaSotho had gradually lost most of their arable land.
B. adj.
Of, relating to, or designating this people; (also) native to Lesotho.
ΚΠ
1840 J. Backhouse Let. 29 June IX. (1841) 7 Attended by the Bechuana interpretor from Philippolis, and by our Basutu servant, Boesac.
1842 R. Moffat Missionary Labours & Scenes S. Afr. xv. 242 The Basuto country, once the theatre of plunder and bloodshed, is now studded with missionary stations.
1892 J. Widdicombe Fourteen Years in Basutoland ii. 20 The Basuto Christians in communion with the English Church are called Machurche.
1995 B. L. Hendricks Internat. Encycl. Horse Breeds 69/2 The Basuto people found horses a great asset as soon as they were introduced.
2007 E. A. Eldredge Power in Colonial Afr. ii. 25 The colonial presence in Lesotho constituted, in the BaSotho discourse on colonialism, ‘a snake in the house’.
Compounds
Basotho pony n. a hardy mountain pony bred in Lesotho from the Cape horse.
ΚΠ
1877 Lady Barker Year's Housek. S. Afr. 75 G— has become possessed..of an aged and long-suffering Basuto pony.
1958 Year Bk. & Guide S. Afr. 205 The once-famous Basuto pony has deteriorated, but steps are being taken to rehabilitate the breed.
1995 B. L. Hendricks Internat. Encycl. Horse Breeds 69/2 Thomas F. Ryan, project manager of the Basotho Pony Project.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1972; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
<
n.adj.1835