aikona, haikona, adjective and & interjection
/(h)aɪˈkɔːnə/, /(h)aɪˈkɔːna/
- Forms:
-
α. ikona, i’kona;
β. Show more haikhona, haikona, haikonna, hayi khona, hayikhona, hayikona, hy ’khona, hykona;
γ. Show 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.
β.
a1931 S. Black in S. Gray Three Plays 142Abraham: Vell, I von’t beat you. Tell me. Jeremiah: Haikona, baas.
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.’
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’.
Copyright © 2023 Dictionary Unit for South African English.