amandla, interjection
- Forms:
- Also amandhla.
- Origin:
- IsiXhosa, IsiZuluShow more IsiXhosa and isiZulu.
‘Power’, ‘strength’, a political rallying-cry used by liberation groupings, especially the African National Congress. See also Afrika interjection, Viva.
- Note:
- ‘Amandla!’ usually elicits the response ‘ngawet(h)u’ or ‘awet(h)u’ (‘is ours’).
1961 ANC pamphlet in H.H.W. De Villiers Rivonia (1964) 77With your support we will win. Amandla ngawethu!
1990 G. Nevill in Sunday Times 30 Dec. 1Remember, the future is certain. It is the past that’s unpredictable. Amandla/Vrystaat.
‘Power’, ‘strength’, a political rallying-cry used by liberation groupings, especially the African National Congress.
- Derivatives:
- Hence amandla noun, a shout of ‘amandla’.1989 J. Hobbs Thoughts in Makeshift Mortuary 409Rose’s pallbearers approach the other side of the grave and put her coffin down in silence, no ‘Amandla!’ here.1994 D. Forrest in Weekly Mail & Guardian 16 Sept. 29Questions from the floor to ‘our ministers’ reflected subterranean tensions but did not seek to confront or embarrass. For the ministers’ loud ‘amandlas’ and then their plain speaking, and the subdued response, it was a strange and touching spectacle.
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