In Alastair Reynolds' Revenger, which is set some tens of millions of years in the future, the characters have new nicknames for things.
Usually the derivation is pretty obvious, "grey" for brains, "gen" for intelligence. But I can't figure out where "cove" for a single person came from. Anyone is a cove, whether they live on a ship or a habitat.
What does it come from?
Cove is old British slang for man. Wiktionary says:
Britain ante-1570. From Romani kodo (“this one, him”), perhaps change in consonants due to lower class th-fronting, or Romani kova (“that person”).
A fellow; a man.
It's an slightly derogatory expression for a man that I've come across in early 20th century books. Google searches for sly cove and funny looking cove give examples.
