THE DERIVATION OF THE WORD "BOSS." [To THE EDITOR OF
THE "SPECTATOR."] SIR,—Is the origin of the word " boss," used in the sense of a master, definitely settled ? In South Africa the term "baas " is commonly supposed to be the same, and the Hottentots call the head of the family " ou baas," or old boss, and the eldest son is the " yong baas." " Ou baas," however, is a term of respect, and may be used in addressing a beardless youngster who is in a position of authority, and there are grounds for suspicion that the words have been taken over by the Dutch from an original native source. It is significant that Cicero ("De Nat. Deorum ") states that the god Vulcan was called by the Egyptians " Obas," who was the son of Cellum; "Skelm," in Cape language, is the same as Burns's " skellum ' (" Tam o' Shanter "), and indicates an unruly person,—Bacchus and his various synonyms, who in a sense was the father of all. It seems extravagantly farfetched to trace back the Hottentot's " ou baas" to the Egyptian " Obas " ; but I have BO frequently come across classical customs among the natives of South Africa that to me the connection does not seem improbable. I have seen the wailing for the dead Adonis among the Basutos performed as ceremoniously as among the ancient Greeks, while some of the folk-lore tales of this nation, given by Cassalis, can be paralleled, incident for incident, with some of the Greek tales, which in many instances were borrowed from the Egyptians. I should explain that I am thinking of the god Obas (Vulcan), not as the blacksmith of later mythology, but as the very essence of supreme being. We learn that this was the sense in which he was once thought of from the inscription on the portal of the temple of Heliopolis :=I-10alcrri) rug eec5v rarpi.—I am, Sir, &c., ERNEST H. S. SCHWARZ.
Rhodes University College, Grahamstown.
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