Cowboy
A classic image of the American cowboy, as
portrayed by C.M. Russell.
A cowboy is an animal herder who tends
cattle on ranches in North America, tradition-
ally on horseback, and often performs a mul-
titude of other ranch-related tasks. The his-
toric American cowboy of the late 19th cen-
tury became a figure of special significance
and legend.[1] A subtype, called a wrangler,
specifically tends the horses used to work
cattle. In addition to ranch work, some cow-
boys work for or participate in rodeos. Cow-
girls, first defined as such in the late 19th
century, had a less-well documented historic-
al role, but in the modern world have estab-
lished the ability to work at virtually identical
tasks and obtained considerable respect for
their achievements.[2] There are also cattle
handlers in many other parts of the world,
particularly South America and Australia,
who perform work similar to the cowboy in
their respective nations.
The cowboy has deep historic roots tra-
cing back to Spain and the earliest settlers of
the Americas. Over the centuries, differences
in terrain, climate and the influence of cattle-
handling traditions from multiple cultures
created several distinct styles of equipment,
clothing and animal handling. As the ever-
practical cowboy adapted to the modern
world, the cowboy’s equipment and tech-
niques also adapted to some degree, though
many classic traditions are still preserved
today.
Etymology and usage
The English word cowboy has an origin from
several earlier terms that referred to both
age and to cattle or cattle-tending work.
The word "cowboy" appeared in the Eng-
lish language by 1725.[3] It appears to be a
direct English translation of vaquero, a Span-
ish word for an individual who managed
cattle while mounted on horseback. It was
derived from vaca, meaning "cow."[4] This
Spanish word has a long history, developed
from the Latin word vacca. Another English
word for a cowboy, buckaroo, is an Angliciza-
tion of vaquero.[5] At least one linguist has
speculated that the word "buc