gnu

First used by Georg Forster in 1778, transcribing English gnoo, which he himself had introduced, a year earlier, in his English work A voyage round the world. Further from Khoekhoe !nu:, possibly via South African Dutch. While Dutch gnoe is only attested later on (common Afrikaans being wildebees), it may nevertheless have existed because it would have been difficult for Forster to borrow the word directly from Khoekhoe. The earliest-ever European attestation seems to be in a French text of 1775