bogadi, noun
/bɔˈxɑːdi/
- Forms:
- Also bohadi, bohali.
- Origin:
- Setswana, Sotho, Northern_Sotho, Southern_SothoShow more Setswana and Sotho, cattle given in fulfilment of a marriage contract. ‘Bogadi’ is the Setswana and Northern Sotho orthography, while ‘bohadi’ is the Southern Sotho orthography used in South Africa, and ‘bohali’ is that used in Lesotho.
- Note:
- Pronunciation of the three forms ‘bogadi’, ‘bohadi’, and ‘bohali’ is identical.
1. In Sotho and Tswana society: lobola noun sense 1.
1882 J. Mackenzie in A.J. Dachs Papers of John Mackenzie (1975) 18My argument was that if the parents of the bride stood up in the Church and ‘gave their daughter away’ and signed a book or register to that effect, there was no place for ‘bogadi’ or wife-buying; the transaction was complete.
1943 ‘J. Burger’ Black Man’s Burden 62Perhaps the most important aspect of that law (sc. civil) is that of lobolo or bogadi, the marriage dowry system.
2. In Sotho and Tswana society: lobola noun sense 2.
1930 S.T. Plaatje Mhudi (1975) 52No male relatives to arrange the marriage knot, nor female relations to herald the family union, and no uncles of the bride to divide the bogadi (dowry) cattle as, of course, there were no cattle.
1989 J. Hobbs Thoughts in Makeshift Mortuary 398He doesn’t have to pay bohali, that is cows, for you.
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