amalaita, plural noun

/æməˈlaɪtə//amaˈlaɪta/
Forms:
amalaaita, amalaaitasShow more Also amalaaita, amalaaitas, amalaitas, amalayita, amaleita, amalita, amelitas, lieta, malaita, and with initial capital.
Origin:
IsiZulu, Southern Sotho, EnglishShow more IsiZulu amalayitha or Southern Sotho malaeta thugs, robbers; etymology dubious: probably formed on isiZulu ama- (or ma- prefix3) + -layitha to pay up, adaptation of English light, light up, initially used among Zulu-speakers as translation of isiZulu khanyisa to pay up, literally ‘light up’ (with one’s shining money); or perhaps adaptation of English moonlighter (see quotation 1934); or Allrighter (see quotation 1980). For explanation of forms with English plural suffix -s, see ama- and ma- prefix3.
historical
Urban gangs once notorious for committing a variety of crimes, usually violent; members of these gangs. Frequently attributive. Cf. skebenga, tsotsi sense 1.
1903 Ilanga 8 May 3No Christened natives have taken part in a faction fight, or defied the Government, nor has a murder of an European been committed by one of them; nor do they obstruct Europeans in the locations, nor form lieta gangs in towns.
[1908 Rand Daily Mail 11 Sept. 7Some three years ago the Amalaita made its appearance. The nucleus was a number of piccanins, mainly Basuto or Magatese.]
1908 Rand Daily Mail 11 Sept. 7 [see Zulu].
1910 Rand Daily Mail 8 Nov. 3No reason can be assigned for the murder, which is theoretically set down to the wanton blackguardism of an amalaita gang.
1934 N. Devitt Mem. of Magistrate 143This gang was akin to the gangs which are known in Johannesburg to-day as ‘Amalaita’, a name the natives have themselves created. I believe the origin of this name to be European. Natives have been told of the doings of the Irish ‘Moonlighters’...The contraction ‘M’lait’ is probably derived from this word, the prefix ‘Ama’ being a Zulu plural prefix.
c1936 S. & E. Afr. Yr Bk & Guide 242Playing fields..should assist in the dissolution of the gangs of hooligans, known as the Amalayita, which infest some of the larger towns..due to the want of outlet for superfluous energy.
1949 J. Mockford Golden Land 102Gangs, such as the amalaitas of Johannesburg, exist for Bantu esprit de corps and for all the crimes known to man.
1951 Drum Oct. 8Then there are other lesser gangs like the Amalaita, who consist mostly of Vendas from the Northern Transvaal. Many of them work during the week as domestic servants in the suburbs, but at week-ends they roam the middle of the city in big gangs.
1952 B. Davidson Report on Sn Afr. 117The amalaitas..were not suppressed at all: they persisted through the ’twenties and ’thirties, only to merge, in the ’forties, with the tsotsis, or ‘narrow-trouser boys’, of contemporary Johannesburg.
1959 E. Mphahlele Down Second Ave 101These people came to be known as malaita — Sotho for ruffians...The malaita assaulted people..raped women and girls.
1971 Drum Mar. 38[He] photographed the Amalaita fights outside Pretoria. It was a barbaric Sunday pastime.
1980 D.B. Coplan Urbanization of African Performing Arts. 143The most significant offshoot of the Ninevites was Johannesburg’s first organized group of ‘juvenile delinquents.’ The Amalaita took their name from the way in which Zulu native police pronounced ‘Allrighters,’ a term for the Ninevites. They were mostly young Basotho who joined together to resist the pass laws.
1986 P. Maylam Hist. of Afr. People 150Organised groups, such as amalaita gangs, became involved in the liquor traffic...Amalaita gangs began to operate in the eastern suburbs of Johannesburg from 1906.
1987 S. Roberts Jacks in Corners 62The Amalaaitas, with their trousers caught at the knee with steel bands and their heavy sticks and their handkerchiefs tied at the corners and worn on their heads could kill you with a single blow.
Urban gangs once notorious for committing a variety of crimes, usually violent; members of these gangs. Frequently attributive.
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19031987

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amakula, plural nounpl. n.amandla, interjectionint.
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