The origins and evolution of a term now considered deeply offensive and racist
In short: Historically used by European settlers to describe the indigenous Khoekhoe people of Southern Africa, the term Hottentot has evolved into a symbol of colonial prejudice. Once appearing in academic literature and popular culture, it is now widely recognized as a derogatory slur, reflecting centuries of distorted, dehumanizing colonial perceptions.
The term emerged among Dutch settlers in the Cape Colony during the 1650s. While its exact etymology remains unknown, popular theories once suggested it mimicked the click consonants of Khoekhoe languages, labeling the people as stutterers. By the late seventeenth century, colonial scholars had solidified the term as a distinct category for non-Bantu indigenous populations, a classification noted by the French anthropologist François Bernier as early as 1684. Over time, the label expanded to encompass the broader Khoisan group, including the San hunter-gatherers.
Colonial depictions of the Hottentot were rarely grounded in reality. From the seventeenth century onward, European accounts frequently associated the term with savagery, cannibalism, and primitive physiological traits. This manufactured image transformed the word into a general term of abuse, detached from any specific ethnic identity. By the eighteenth century, it was used to denote barbarism; for example, Lord Chesterfield’s 1737 letters famously parodied Samuel Johnson as a respectable Hottentot. This derogatory usage persisted, eventually influencing modern slang and discriminatory language.
The shift away from the term accelerated in the late twentieth century. Although it appeared in George Murdock’s 1981 Atlas of World Cultures, by the 1980s, its racist connotations made it increasingly unacceptable in scholarly and public discourse. In South Africa, the derivative term hotnot was explicitly proscribed by 2008. Today, the word remains a cautionary example of how colonial tropes can distort history. Even cultural artifacts have been re-evaluated; in 2024, the British Board of Film Classification raised the age rating of the 1964 film Mary Poppins to PG, citing the use of the term as discriminatory language.
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- Summary by Intellect · source: Hottentot (racial term)
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