assegai, noun

/ˈæsəɡaɪ/
Forms:
assagai, assegaaiShow more Also assagai, assegaai, and (formerly) asigie, assagaay, assagay, assagaye, assagi, assagie, assaguy, assagy, assaigai, assaigi, assaygay, asseagi, assegaay, assegae, assegaie, assegay, asseger, assegie, assiguie, azaguay, hasagaye, hassagai, hassagay, hassagaye, hassaguay, hassegai.
Origin:
Portuguese, Arabic, Berber, early_DutchShow more Portuguese azagaia, adaptation of Arabic az-zaghayah, from al the + Berber zagayah lance, spear. The word occurs in early Dutch as hasegaij or hassegaai.
1.
a. A spear with a pointed, sharpened iron tip, and a wooden shaft which is either short, for stabbing, or long, for throwing; umkhonto sense 1. Also attributive.
Note:
A weapon used by African and Khoikhoi peoples from early times.
1625 S. Purchas Hachluytus Posthymus (1905) II. 263One of them with a woodden Assagay (sharpe at the point) in his hand, threatened to shoot at one of our men.
1677 T. Herbert in R. Raven-Hart Before Van Riebeeck (1967) 121They have little Art in War, their weapon commonly is an Azaguay or Javelin headed with Iron.
1731 G. Medley tr. of P. Kolben’s Present State of Cape of G.H. I. 241The Hassagaye is a Sort of Half-Pike. The Shaft of it is a Taper-Stick, of the Length and Thickness of a Rake-Handle. ’Tis arm’d at the thickest End with a little thin Plate of Iron, tapering to a Point, and very sharp on the Edges.
1776 F. Masson in Phil. Trans. of Royal Soc. LXVI. 296They were all armed with hassaguays, of which every one had eight or ten in his left hand.
1786 G. Forster tr. of A. Sparrman’s Voy. to Cape of G.H. I. 194Here and there..a man will furnish himself with a javelin..: this is called a hassagai.
1798 B. Stout Narr. of Loss of Ship ‘Hercules’ 35I requested the chief to order some of his people to shew me how they used their assaygays. This is a spear of about four feet six inches in length, made of an elastic wood, and pointed with iron.
1809 J. Mackrill Diary. 63Assagay is a hottentot Javelin, consists of an Iron spear hollowed out on each side about six Inches long, this spear is fastened with thongs of Leather to a slender round stick five feet long made of the Assagay wood or Curtisea faginea and tapers towards the End.
1821 Missionary Notices 120The assagy, which is a sort of spear fixed to the end of a tapering shaft, is in general use.
a1823 J. Ewart Jrnl (1970) 50A long spear called a hassagai which they throw in the manner of a javelin, with great certainty to the distance of fifty or sixty paces.
1837 F. Owen Diary (1926) 8A large party of them overtook us,..armed with guns and assegais.
1841 B. Shaw Memorials 23The weapons used, as well in warfare as upon these occasions, are the kerrie, a stick two or three feet in length, with a large knob at one end; the assagai, or spear, and the bow and arrows.
1849 N.J. Merriman Cape Jrnls (1957) 38The assegai is a poor match for the musket, and yet under cover of the bush these fellows are formidable.
1851 J.F. Churchill Diary. (Killie Campbell Africana Library MS37)A body of Caffirs with their assegais & shields were sent into the reeds to beat up the Buck that were generally so plentiful there.
1866 J. Leyland Adventures 55The blade of the assaigi, varies from nine to twelve inches in length; the handle is from five to six feet long, and half-an-inch in thickness.
1879 C.L. Norris-Newman in J. Crwys-Williams S. Afr. Despatches (1989) 46We could hear the hoarse cries of the enemy, and the rattle of their knob-kerries and assegais against their shields.
1884 B. Adams Narr. (1941) 117All were armed with assegaies — long spear with blade barbed like a fish hook — and some..had guns.
1876 T. Stubbs Reminiscences. I. 57We found Mr Henderson lying on his face, with one hand holding an Assegie wound in his stomach.
1897 F.R. Statham S. Afr. as It Is 64The destroying weapon was the long-bladed assegai, a weapon as terrible in the hands of a Zulu as the two-edged broad sword in the hands of a Roman soldier.
1912 Ayliff & Whiteside Hist. of Abambo 8Adopting the Zulu model, he divided his army into regiments, and armed them with the short stabbing assagai.
1926 M. Nathan S. Afr. from Within 19Chaka, who lived until 1828,..introduced their short stabbing assegai as their destructive weapon.
c1948 H. Tracey Lalela Zulu 9In recent times the Zulus have brought firearms to their faction fights instead of assegais only.
1973 J. Meintjes Voortrekkers 75They used three types of spear or assegai: one for stabbing with a blade of about twelve inches and a short shaft up to thirty-six inches long. The second had a shorter blade and a somewhat longer shaft of up to forty-eight inches, also a stabbing weapon. Then there was the throwing spear with a small blade of up to six inches on the end of an iron tang of eight inches or more.
1985 Cape Times 30 Sept. 1Lamontville residents said warriors took to the streets with fighting sticks and assegais, beating up people and smashing windows.
1991 W. Mbhele in Weekly Mail 15 Mar. 2Inkatha loyalists poured out of the hostel rooms brandishing pangas, spears, firearms and assegais.
b. figurative.
1949 O. Walker Proud Zulu (1951) 172‘This is an assegai in the king’s back,’ said the indunas turning away. The ultimatum was thrust in their hands, but they would not take it.
1988 L. Shaw in Style July 95If you can read the stars, you can work to avert the assegais that are heading for our country.
1990 M. Tyala in Sunday Times 19 Aug. 15Messrs Mandela and Buthelezi need to send clear signals down to the grassroots operatives that Inkatha and the ANC may be political adversaries but they are not enemies. It worked in Zimbabwe, and I am willing to bet my assegai it will work here.
2. Elliptical for assegai wood.
1887 J.C. Brown Management of Crown Forests 122Assegai, Grows from seed, and also shoots from the stump; is used for waggon wood; becomes useful after 7 or 8 years growth.
1905 D.E. Hutchins in Flint & Gilchrist Science in S. Afr. 392Curtisia faginea (Assegai) Medium-sized trees prized for wagon-making.
1907 T.R. Sim Forests & Forest Flora 48Hard horny seeds like those of the Yellow-woods, Black Ironwood, Wild Olive, Assegai, Olinia etc. do not readily germinate even in cultivation.
1919 Dunell, Ebden & Co.’s Price List Aug. 35Colonial Wagon Wood...Spokes. Assegai. 1½in. Cape Cart, 1/2½.
c1936 S. & E. Afr. Yr Bk & Guide 320The principal species composing these forests and the main uses of their woods are as follows:..Curtisia faginea Assegai: Waggon building. Ocotea bullata Black Stinkwood or Laurel: A furniture wood.
1960 G. Lister Reminisc. 80Native forest trees such as Yellow-wood, Stinkwood, Assegai and Kaffirplum were also tried but have not grown well.
1989 Conserva July 4The wood of species like yellow-wood, stinkwood, assegai and iron-wood, names to conjure with, was in everyday use.
1991 H. Hutchings in Weekend Post 23 Feb. (Leisure) 7Although fairly slow to mature, the assegai is a delight to the eye from an early age and eventually grows into a very large, handsome tree.
3. steekgras sense b.
1986 Farmer’s Weekly 13 June 18Usually, they select plants that retain their palatability longer, such as redgrass, assegaai and wild oatgrass.
A spear with a pointed, sharpened iron tip, and a wooden shaft which is either short, for stabbing, or long, for throwing; umkhonto sense 1. Also attributive.
Elliptical for assegai wood.
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