Barolong, noun

Forms:
α. Morolong, BaralongShow more singular Morolong (rare); singular and plural Baralong, Barolong, Borolong, Brolong;
β. singular and plural Rolong.
Plurals:
usually unchanged, or Barolongs, Rolong.
Origin:
SetswanaShow more Setswana, plural form of Morolong a member of this people, originally the name of an early leader, see α quotations 1905 and 1979, also β quotation 1970. For an explanation of singular and plural forms, see mo- and ba-.
A member of a Tswana people acknowledging Morolong as common ancestor, and living mainly in the North West Province and Botswana. See also Hurutshe, Tswana sense 2 a. Also attributive, passing into adjective.
α.
[1802 Truter & Somerville in G.M. Theal Rec. of Cape Col. (1899) IV. 404He had been with the well known Cornelis Kok on a journey through the dorp Patania and Litakoe to the Barrolow nation.]
1824 W.J. Burchell Trav. II. 304They informed me that Makrakki, the chief of the Maibues, a division of the Barolong tribe, had fled.
1827 G. Thompson Trav. 182The fourth speaker, Insha, a Barolong, began by recommending that the Bechuanas should wait until the Mantatees appeared, and then attack them.
1833 Graham’s Town Jrnl 16 May 2He made an excursion against the Borolongs, and came near to the chief Mahura, of the Batlapiis, who is exceedingly afraid of him.
1840 C.A. Kinloch in Echo 26 Oct. 2Thaba’nchu, or as it is more generally called, Morocco, is a place of considerable size, containing, it is said, upwards of 6 000 inhabitants, the remnants of a once flourishing tribe called the Borolong.
1857 D. Livingstone Missionary Trav. 122There had been some fighting between these Barolongs and the Boers, and..capturing of cattle on both sides...It was the first time that I ever heard of cattle being taken by the Bechuanas.
1872 Encycl. Brit. XVII. 814In the southern-eastern portion of the State, and entirely surrounded by it, is a small native territory, of which the principal village is Thaba-nchu, where 10 000 of the Barolong tribe reside, peacably ruled by their chief according to their own laws.
1888 Encycl. Brit. XXIII. 518These western and south-western tribes (Barolongs, Batlapins, Bakwenas, Bakhatlas, etc.) are all Bechuanas.
1899 R. Devereux Side Lights on S. Afr. 92The Baralongs are, physically speaking, an inferior race, not conspicuous for either muscle or energy, but they are an amiable people, and remarkably quick to adopt the ideas and habits of civilisation.
1900 S.T. Plaatje Boer War Diary (1973) 68Kaffir beer to a common Morolong is ‘meat vegetables and tea’ rolled into one, and they can subsist entirely on it for a long time.
1905 Native Tribes of Tvl 16The Baralong take their name from their earliest recorded chief Morolong, under whom, according to tradition, they migrated from a country in the far north, probably the region of the lakes, about 1400 AD.
1917 S.T. Plaatje Native Life 242But all were agreeably surprised to find that beyond slight damage to the housetops there were no casualties among the Barolongs.
1926 M. Nathan S. Afr. from Within 52The station of the Moffats was at Kuruman, and they laboured principally among the people, (the Barolong) near Mafeking.
1943 J. Burger Black Man’s Burden 217Unlike Basutoland, with its uniform population, Bechuanaland contains a number of tribes, such as the Bamangwato, the Bakhatla, the Barolong, and the Bakwena.
1951 P. Abrahams Wild Conquest 175‘This one brought the news.’ ‘An Ndabele?’ ‘No, a Barolong.’
1957 D. Grinnell-Milne Baden-Powell at Mafeking 22The soil was so stony, the land so arid that the Baralongs had long since found a name for it in their native tongue. They called it Mafeking — a Place of Stones.
1979 P. Miller Myths & Legends 173The second tribe were skilled metal workers, and took the name of ba-Rolong from their leader, Morolong (the black-smith).
1985 Platzky & Walker Surplus People 74In the Orange Free State freehold title among Africans was confined to a few Barolong farms that were not bought out by whites.
1989 J. Crwys-Williams S. Afr. Despatches 169Members of the ‘Black Watch’ (armed Baralongs from the ‘native stadt’).
β.
1940 P.R. Kirby Diary of Dr Andrew Smith II. 142This native was a Rolong, who was probably taken to England by the Wesleyan missionaries.
[1970 M. Wilson 1000 Yrs before Van Riebeeck 8Oral tradition, recorded in 1843, celebrates the skill in metal-work of an early Sotho ancestor. He was Rolong the forger..iron and the hammer..were the symbols..of his lineage...Calculating from genealogies he lived in the thirteenth century.]
1976 West & Morris Abantu 119Among the better-known of the 50-odd Tswana tribes are the Ngwato, Kwena, Tswana, Ngwaketse, Kgatla, Thlaping, Rolong and Hurutshe.
1980 Lye & Murray Transformations 90All Barolong acknowledge their descent from a common ancestor Morolong...But there has been no united Rolong political community since the latter half of the eighteenth century.
1986 P. Maylam Hist. of Afr. People 113Warden in 1851 assembled a combined force of troops, white farmers, Griqua, Kora and Rolong, and launched an attack on Moletsane’s Taung as the prelude to a move against Moshoeshoe.
A member of a Tswana people acknowledging Morolong as common ancestor, and living mainly in the North West Province and Botswana.
Entry Navigation

Visualise Quotations

Quotation summary

Senses

18021989