Why are they called cowboys but they ride horses, shouldn't they be called horseboys ?
Answers
The word cowboy was first used in Ireland during the middle ages. During this time the word literally described a young boy who tended cattle. These young “cowboys” tended to the cattle, not on horseback, but on foot.
The word then surfaced in England with references to the cowboy in the 1620’s, but written proof of the word didn’t actually appear until the late 17th century. As in Ireland the word meant nothing more than a boy who tended cows.
In US history, the word “cowboy” got a derogatory start. During the American Revolutionary War the British contemptuously used the term for marauding Americans who stole their cattle and other property. However the Oxford Dictionary states that the word is “a contemptuous appellation applied to some of the Tory partisans of Westchester County, NY,” from 1785.
In any case, throughout most of early American history no one would admit to being a “cowboy”. In fact the word didn’t get much use until the great trail drives that came north from Texas were at an end due to the birth of the railroad system.
North American cattlemen or cattle herders called themselves buckaroos which was Anglicized from the Spanish word, Vaquero meaning “cow man”. Other labels that cattlemen prefer to use over the word “cowboy” are - cowpoke, cowpuncher, ranch hand, and drover.
Not until the initiation of Wild West Shows in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, did the term “cowboy” come into regular use. While not necessarily portrayed in a realistic manner, starting in the 1920’s and continuing on to this very day, western films have popularized the man and the myth of the American “cowboy.”
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Originally Answered: Why are they called cowboys if they ride horses? Shouldn't they be called horseboys?
Actually the term came about before it was common for them to ride horses. The term started as cowpokes. Cowpokes walked behind the cattle (this was mostly in the eastern states since the size of western ranches necessitated horses from the get go) with long sticks and would prod them in the direction they wanted them to go. To this day the watusi of Africa still use this technique as do the Basutho tribes.
A cowboy is an animal who tends on in , traditionally on horseback, and often performs a multitude of other ranch-related tasks. The historic American cowboy of the late 19th century arose from the traditions of northern and became a figure of special significance and legend.
A subtype, called a , specifically tends the used to work cattle. In addition to ranch work, some cowboys work for or participate in .
There are also cattle handlers in many other parts of the world, particularly and , who perform work similar to the cowboy in their respective nations.
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People who ride horses are not called cowboys; they're called equestrians.
However, cowboys acquire their name not just because they tend to cattle, and make cattle their livelihood. The name is a calque of Spanish vaquero, which itself derives from vaca 'cow'. In the popular imagination, cowboys are seen as a kind of ultimate epitome of the Anglo-Saxon frontiersman, but in fact the institution of the vaquero preceded Anglo-Saxons in the American Southwest by several centuries. When the Anglos arrived in places like Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California, they largely adopted an already existing ranching culture, and contributed to it only modern inventions like barbed wire and modern weaponry, leaving the social institutions largely intact.
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