I'm wondering about the history of the term 'cowboy'. If it originally referred to ranchers and cattle drivers, how and when did we start using it as the generic word for people in the old west?
What is our source for the term "cowboy" being used generically for people in the Old West? I have never heard it used for anyone except men working on ranches.
Because if you were in the west you were a miner, cattle hearding, or lost soul.