Also 7 cuskus. [The same word as COUSCOUS, the dish so called being originally made of this grain. In F. couscou, in 18th c. cuzcuz, cousse-couche, couche-couche.] The grain of the African Millet, Holcus spicatus Linn., Penicillaria spicata Willd., a cereal indigenous to Africa, where it has constituted from the earliest times an important article of food.
1625. Purchas, Pilgrims, II. VIII. xi. 1368. Their bread is made of this Coaua, which is a kind of blacke Wheate, and Cuscus a small white Seed like Millet in Biskany.
1629. Capt. Smith, Trav. & Adv., xiii. 25. Cuskus.
1634. Sir T. Herbert, Trav. (1638), 22–3. (Madagascar), You shall have in exchange … Barley, Rice and Cuscus, with what fruit you like. Ibid., 28. The Ile [Mohelia] inricht us with … Buffolls … Rice, Pease, Cuscus, Hony.
1852. W. F. Daniell, in Pharmac. Jrnl., XI. 395. It constitutes the kouskous of the Joloffs and Moorish nations, the dra and bishna of Tripoli.
