bossale

English

Etymology

From French bossale, from Spanish bozal (“wild, untamed, raw; born in Africa and recently enslaved in a colony”). Doublet of bozal and bosal.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /boʊˈsæl/

Noun

bossale (plural bossales)

1. (historical) A black African-born enslaved person in a French (or sometimes other European) colony, especially Haiti (as opposed to a slave born in the colony).
   • 2019, Aline Helg, Slave No More: Self-Liberation before Abolitionism in the Americas, UNC Press Books, →ISBN, page 76:

     In Louisiana, French colonists relied on bossales later than elsewhere as they first imposed the slavery system on Amerindians only. The first slave ship carrying Africans arrived in 1719 […]

Alternative forms

• bossal

Synonyms

• bozal (slave recently brought from Africa to a Spanish or other European colony)

Coordinate terms

• creole, affranchi

Anagrams

• bolases

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bɔ.sal/

Noun

bossale m or f (plural bossales)

1. a bossale, an African-born slave in a European colony