English: The first part of the term “Bushman” has been variously explained as referring to
bush-covered country, or to bushes as refuge from enemies, as cover from which
to attack man or beast, or as dwelling places. The word boes is neither Afrikaans
nor Dutch, and is probably a phonological adaptation. Several San ethnonyms
mean “bush men” or “bush people”. The term San, a contraction of Sanqua, earlier
Sonqua, has been explained as “gatherers”, “outcasts, pariahs”, “servants, subjects”,
“aborigines or settlers”, and “those who sit and rest”. Van Riebeeck’s addition of
the explanations Vismans (“fish men”), struyckroovers (“bandits”, literally “bushrobbers”)
and Berghvolck (“mountain people”) to various mentions of Souqua, Soaqua
and similar words, prompts the possibility of translations.