From where did this word "COWBOY" came ? If it's for a person who keeps COWS...?

Question

Why don't we use "HORSEBOY" for a person who keeps Horses ? Or why don't we use "DONKEYBOY" or "BUFFALOBOY" !!!!!

Answer 1

cowboys used to herd caws

Answer 2

I would suspect that the word "cowboy" probably came about because even though a lot of what they did was learned from or patterned after the vaquero, most of the guys who did that for a living were young men. I'm talking about the guys who rode drag or point (these are positions in relationship to where the herd of cattle you are moving are; drag is in the rear where you get ALL of the dust, point is at the front). The older guys were cooks or bosses. This is not to say that the cook or the boss was not a genuine cowboy, but age does have it's advantages. Back in the early days of cowboys, the word "boy" apparently did not have the negative connotation that it does now. Nowadays, the word "cowboy" can refer to all sorts of things, good and bad. I still think of them as a hero type, but that's because I come from a long line of cowboys that I know to be good, honest, decent men. Heck, I even married one!

Answer 3

Originally, the word designated a herdsboy who was employed as a cowherd, often on foot (riding requiring skills and investment in horse and equipment rarely available to or entrusted to a boy). Herdswork was often done - more often with sheep or goats - by minors in Antiquity, and still is in various third world cultures; the teenagers of a South African tribe even maintain a specific traditional form of Nguni stick fighting, to defend themselves and their herds.

But in the western culture, herding cattle was rarely left to boys, except as trainees at least approaching manhood, especially as schooling became generalized, and the term became disassociated from the boyish age, at first retaining the notion of low status often implied by 'boy' in professional designations, later being extended to the whole ranch culture.

Answer 4

Cowboy comes from the Spanish word "vaquero." A vaquero was basically a ranch hand. Americans changed the spelling to reflect closer to the way it might be spelled in English.

Answer 5

Good Question but what if we used it for all professions, IE; Gynecologist, Proctologists, etc. Use your imigination!

Answer 6

very good question the english language is so funny.

Answer 7

ranch hands. it is a generic term.