Xesibe, plural noun

/‖eˈsiːbe//keˈsiːbe//‖eˈsiːbi/
Forms:
Also Xesibes, Xesibi.
Origin:
IsiXhosaShow more IsiXhosa amaXesibe the Xesibe people, so named after an early leader.
(The) members of a people living in the northern part of the Transkei and now considered part of the Xhosa group (see Xhosa noun sense 1 a). Also attributive.
Note:
The Transkei is now a part of the province of the Eastern Cape.
Note:
As is the case with many names of peoples and groups in South African English, this word has been found only in plural uses; however, it may be that it has also been used in unrecorded singular forms.
1884 Cape Law Jrnl I. 223The Amaxosa Kafirs, Fingoes, Tembus, Amampondo, Xesibes, Zulus, [etc.].
1901 Natives of S. Afr. (S. Afr. Native Races Committee) 14The Xesibes in Matatiele.
1936 Cambridge Hist. of Brit. Empire VIII. 519It (sc. the Cape Colony)..incorporated the Xesibe district of Mount Ayliff in Griqualand East (October 1886).
1941 C.W. De Kiewiet Hist. of S. Afr. 73In Kafirland..dwelt the Ama-Xosa, the Tembu, the Pondo, the Xesibe, and the Ama-Baca.
[1954 W.D. Hammond-Tooke Nguni 23Xesibe, the founder of the tribe, is said to have been a full brother of the twins Mpondo and Mpondomise.]
1954 W.D. Hammond-Tooke Nguni 25Today the Xesibe occupy an area of 240 square miles along the northern border of Pondoland.
1974 H. Potgieter in Std Encycl. of Sn Afr. X. 397It (sc. the Tabankulu district of the Transkei)..is populated mainly by Pondos and descendants of the Xesibi and Amacwera.
1975 W.D. Hammond-Tooke in Std Encycl. of Sn Afr. XI. 554Bhaca and Xesibe women do not use ochre.
1975 W.D. Hammond-Tooke in Std Encycl. of Sn Afr. XI. 555Initiation of boys (circumcision)..has fallen into disuse among the Bhaca, Xesibe and Mpondo.
(The) members of a people living in the northern part of the Transkei and now considered part of the Xhosa group (see Xhosa noun sense 1 a). Also attributive.
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IsiXhosa
Wykmeester, nounn.Xhosa, nounn. & adjectiveadj.
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