Boers Wars Part Deux!

[Sojourner]

Hmmm... as they say in my kitchen nook, things are getting curiouser:

>(I) respond:
>"We think of the Boers as the Afrikaaners now, but it is one of those Sundry
>and Wily Historickal Misteaks.  The word "boer" itself means "red" . . . "
>
>
>What is your source here?  Both Britannica and the OED (not necessarily
>unbiased in this matter, I'll admit) give the name as meaning "farmer"
>and applying only to Dutch and/or Afrikan settlers.
>
>Don Larsson, Mankato State U (MN)


Hmmm... this is what I found by looking online at Webster's unabridged:

Boor (?), n. [D. boer farmer, boor; akin to AS. gebr countryman, G. bauer;
fr. the root of AS. ban to
inhabit, and akin to E. bower, be. Cf. Neighbor, Boer, and Big to build.] 

1. A husbandman; a peasant; a rustic; esp. a clownish or unrefined countryman. 

2. A Dutch, German, or Russian peasant; esp. a Dutch colonist in South
Africa, Guiana, etc.: a boer. 

3. A rude ill-bred person; one who is clownish in manners. 


Boor being related to Boer -- essentially the same.  Hmmm... now I'm even
more curious because the source I was thinking of was James Michener's
__Covenant__.  I'm very intereted now as to whether I am remembering this
wrong or have the British, through their colonial ideas, somehow mangled
this word?  Neigh-BOOR I understand, but the word uncouth or rude?  

If anyone has ever heard of Boer meaning other than above and as quoted, I'd
love to know.  Or, wait an hour, and I'll go scan Michener on my lunch break
and we'll see what we can find.  Either way on how this definition is,
sounds like somebody was trying to insult the other *grin*

Anyone out there interested in playing "Etymology of the word 'woman'"?

/me grins.

                
                                "Kansas,' I say, 'twas my home 'fore the war"

                                                --Bob Dole, 1996 Pres.
Campaign speech