‖ das
(das)
Also dasse.
[Du. das = Ger. dachs, OHG. dahs:—WGer. *þahs, whence also med.L. taxus badger. In sense 1 retained by Caxton in his English version of Reynard; in sense 2 belonging to the Dutch of South Africa.]
† 1. A badger. Obs.
| 1481 Caxton Reynard iv. (Arb.) 7 Tho spack Grymbart the dasse. Ibid. xvii. 39 The beres, the foxes, the cattes and the dassen. |
2. The daman or rock-badger of the Cape.
| 1786 Sparrman Voy. Cape G.H. 309 Those little animals which..by the colonists are called dasses or badgers. 1838 W. H. R. Read in Penny Cycl. XII. 419 (s.v. Hyrax) Its name at the Cape is the Dasse, which is, I believe, the Dutch for a badger. 1884 Wood in Sunday Mag. Nov. 719/1 The most successful Das hunter. |