aikona, haikona, adjective and & interjection

Forms:
α. ikona, i’kona;
β. haikhona, haikonaShow more haikhona, haikona, haikonna, hayi khona, hayikhona, hayikona, hy ’khona, hykona;
γ. aikhona, aikonaShow more aikhona, aikona, ai-kôna, ayikona.
Origin:
Fanakalo, IsiXhosa, IsiZuluShow more Fanakalo, from isiXhosa hayi, isiZulu hhayi no, not + isiXhosa kona, isiZulu khona here, there.
A. adjective No; not any; not.
α.
[1882 C. Du Val With Show through Sn Afr. II. 145Sir Owen Lanyon..promised that a Kaffir runner leaving with despatches should bear it; but intelligent ‘Ikona Mali’ (No Money), and two others of his fraternity who at later intervals were also despatched..were but broken reeds.]
1941 N. Devitt Celebrated S. Afr. Crimes (1945) 120‘Hands up!’ The robber shouted ‘Ikona hands up!’ swung round and fired.
β.
1899 S.T. Plaatje Boer War Diary (1973) 1No thunder. Haikonna terror; and I have therefore got ample opportunity to sit down and think.
γ.
1963 M. Kavanagh We Merry Peasants 142He was immediately indignant to be considered as youthful as that: ‘Aikona piccanin, madam.’
B. interjection colloquial. An emphatic negative: ‘No’, ‘certainly not’, ‘never’. Cf. ai, haai.
α.
1901 P.T. Ross Yeoman’s Lett. 92 (Swart)We spotted a Kaffir village and riding to it, enquired at every kraal for eggs, but, alas, they had none, ‘I’kona’, signifying the negative.
1911 Blackburn & Caddell Secret Service 70He passed the detective office and whispered ‘Ikona’ — that most comprehensive negative in any language.
1936 P.M. Clark Autobiog. of Old Drifter 173I was asked to address the meeting. ‘Ikona!’ said I. ‘Nothing doing!’
1941 R. Roamer in Bantu World 15 Feb. 5Fancy expecting me..to be a stay-in..when all young girls were dancing and having a nice time. Ikona!
1952 H. Klein Land of Silver Mist 26John flatly refused to sleep outside. ‘Ikona, baas. Too many snakes and skellums...Me sleep inside, baas.’
1982 Sunday Times 19 Dec. (Mag. Sect.)He took one look at it and said: ‘Ikona! Non molto bene.’
β.
a1931 S. Black in S. Gray Three Plays 142Abraham: Vell, I von’t beat you. Tell me. Jeremiah: Haikona, baas.
1965 J. Bennett Hawk Alone 212The eldest African listened politely and when Babby was finished he shook his head. ‘Haikona, Baas,’ he said.
1979 F. Dike First S. African 18No daughter of mine is going to waste her life away on a tsotsi. Not after all the education I’ve given her. Hayi khona.
1982 Pace Nov. 222He was not going to be outdone. No! Never! Haikhona! S’true’s God!
1988 J. Khumalo in Pace Nov. 8Haikona! This is no fake, brother.
γ.
1959 G. & W. Gordon tr. of F.A. Venter’s Dark Pilgrim 102‘Aikona!’ He shakes his head with a decisive gesture. ‘You take the money; I take the baskets.’
1969 A. Fugard Boesman & Lena 16Boesman: You mean that day you get a bloody good hiding. Lena: Aikona! I’ll go to the police.
1971 E. Prov. Herald 15 Sept. 13If that is the way to teach a boy to speak his home language then, aikona. I’d rather he didn’t learn it.
1982 Voice 18 July 4Aikhona, Chief Leabua Jonathan! You simply cannot get away with it so easily.
1989 J. Hobbs Thoughts in Makeshift Mortuary 48You think would I bring you trouble? Aikona!
1991 P. Slabolepszy Braait Laaities. 8I know what you thinking, you thinking — This guy—? Aikona!
1991 Sunday Times 7 Apr. 14The Big Time..is living up to its promise...Frank Opperman is creating an enduring character in the combative hero Chris Karedes, with his explosive ‘Aikona!’ when things aren’t going right. He could start a new craze for the word.
No; not any; not.
An emphatic negative: ‘No’, ‘certainly not’, ‘never’.
Derivatives:
Hence aikona  transitive verb, to say ‘aikona’ to someone.
1985 H. Prendini in Style Oct. 39What’s your case? Don’t aikona me, my china.
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18821991

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