Hottentot

Hottentot was the name given to hunter-gatherer people of Khoikhoi descent by the Dutch settlers in the mid 17th century, in immitation of the sounds they heard in the Khoekhoe languages, spoken by the Khoi.

This name was soon contracted to "Hotnot" in the spoken language by Dutch-, and later Afrikaans-speaking people in the Cape. In the 19th and 20th centuries, as the numbers of "pure" "Hottentots" dwindled, the term was expanded to refer to all people of mixed race heritage and gradually was also used denigratingly (particularly in the contracted form) to imply inferiority and lack of

By the 1980’s the term was seen as highly derogatory and replaced by the more "correct" Khoi or /Xhoi (the / indicating a click sound). However by 2000 this had been challenged in its turn, with the etymology of "Hottentot" being reappraised by descendants of the origial descendents of the Khoikhoi.. *? CHECK!

(See also Coloured and Griqua.)

Sources

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khoikhoi