Khoekhoen.adj.

Etymology: < Khoekhoe khoe-khoe (compare β. forms), self-designation < khoe- human + khoe human being, person (see note). The α. and γ. forms represent borrowings < Khoekhoe words of the same family which are formed from the base compound khoe-khoe by suffixation. The α. forms show the 3rd person masculine singular suffix -b (formerly spelt †-p ), i.e. their sense is ‘man belonging to the Khoekhoe people’. The γ. forms show the 3rd person neuter or common gender plural suffix -n , i.e. their sense is ‘several members of the Khoekhoe people’ or ‘the Khoekhoe people collectively’. However, in English, the distinction between these suffixes is often ignored; compare e.g. quots. 1801, 1969, 2005 at sense A. 1. Compare earlier Hottentot n., Hottentot adj.Although Khoekhoe khoe-khoe (singular) and khoe-khoen (plural) are frequently translated as ‘man of men’ and ‘men of men’ respectively, this is incorrect, as neither of the compounds contains a possessive construction. In the base compound khoe-khoe , the first element modifies the second element; a more appropriate, but still approximate translation is ‘proper human being’. Compare the following earlier occurrence of the Khoekhoe noun denoting a Khoekhoe man in a trilingual English-Dutch-Khoekhoe dictionary:1790 E. Helme tr. F. Le Vaillant Trav. Afr. II. ix. 186 (table) A Hottentot man... Khoé-Khoep. The various English spellings with k , qu , kh , and xh apparently reflect attempts to render the aspirated voiceless velar plosive which occurs twice in the Khoekhoe etymon. The form Xhoi-xhoi may be influenced by Xhosa n. (compare frequent early spellings of the latter with initial k or kh ), although the initial consonant of the latter word is a click sound, unlike the kh of the Khoekhoe word. In quot. 1989 at sense A. 2, the form Khoekhoen is irregular, as it cannot be used in Khoekhoe to denote the language (which is called Khoekhoegowab : see note at Nama adj. and n.); with the use of Khoekhoe in English texts to denote the language, compare similar uses of English n., French n., etc. The spelling Khoekhoe is now the official one sanctioned by the recently introduced orthography of the language, and is becoming more frequent in English as well.