Also tzetse, tzetze, (erron. tse). [Sechwana (i.e., Bechuana language) tsetse.] A dipterous insect (Glossina morsitans, of the family Tabanidæ), abundant in parts of tropical and southern Africa; its bite is often fatal to horses and other domestic animals. Also applied to other species of Glossina. More fully tsetse-fly.
1849. E. E. Napier, Excurs. S. Africa, II. 396. [Gordon Cumming’s] horses were killed either by lions or horse sickness, and the fly called ‘tzetse.’ All his oxen were killed by this insect.
1850. R. G. Cumming, Hunter’s Life S. Afr. (1902), 139/2. Four [horses] that are bitten with ‘tsetse,’ and must die in a week or two. Ibid. (1865), Last Jrnls., i. (1873), 15. The people … say there are no tsetse flies.
1889. L. V. Sheldon, S. Africa, 94. The Tse fly stings their horses.
[1895. J. Brown, Secwana Dict., Tsetse, a fly destructive to cattle.]
1898. [see TRYPANOSOMA].
1904. Brit. Med. Jrnl., 20 Aug., 368. Sleeping sickness is conveyed, at least in Uganda, by that species of tsetse fly we know as Glossina palpalis.
