Fingo, noun

/ˈfɪŋɡəʊ/
Forms:
Fingoe, FingooShow more Also Fingoe, Fingoo, Phengoe, and with small initial.
Plurals:
unchanged, Fingos, or Fingoes.
Origin:
IsiXhosaShow more Englished form of isiXhosa amaMfengu destitute wanderers seeking work and refuge, from fenguza seek service.
a. Mfengu. Also attributive.
1827 W. Shaw Diary. 6 JuneHad at night much interesting conversation on religious subjects with a Fingoo man who is the only person we found here, in charge of his Master’s cattle.
1829 C. Rose Four Yrs in Sn Afr. 193I saw many fugitives, who are called Fingos, wanderers; and on my once mentioning Chaka before them, a woman exclaimed, ‘that is the wolf that destroys us’.
1835 J. Ayliff Journal. 15 MayA day full of interest to the Fingoe Nation, for on it they were put in possession of that land which was to become their home after years of wandering.
1837 ‘N. Polson’ Subaltern’s Sick Leave 109Some tribes of Mantatees [printed Mantalees] and Phengoes, nations of which small remnants took refuge in the Colony when their names as nations were destroyed by the kafirs in their gradual south-western movement.
1839 W.C. Harris Wild Sports 30We resolved to halt for the night at a kraal of Fingoes or tame Kafirs.
1846 J.W. Appleyard War of Axe (1971) 62The Board of Relief for distressed Fingoes met to-day for the purpose of seeing the applicants, and hearing their cases.
1846 J. Hare in Imp. Blue Bks Command Paper 786–1847, 89The Fingoes are all well disposed and determined to stand by their best friends the Government, and recent events at Fort Peddie have strengthened their hatred of the Kafirs.
1852 M.B. Hudson S. Afr. Frontier Life p.xiThe Fingoes..whom, Sir Benjamin D’Urban finding in the war of 1835 as ‘dogs’..amongst the Kafirs..admitted into the colony..giving them grants of land.
1857 J. Shooter Kafirs of Natal p.ivTheir masters had denominated them Amafengu, ‘destitute people in search of service’ — a name which has been corrupted into Fingoes.
1871 J. McKay Reminisc. 4At Grahamstown, we had the pleasure of seeing a company of H.M. Fingoe levies perform one of their war-dances, previous to their march to Kafirland.
1877 C. Andrews Reminiscences of Kafir War 1834–5. 2The Galakas..will, by their attack on the Fingoes, who are British subjects..provoke a war with the Colony.
1882 C.L. Norris-Newman With Boers in Tvl 15Fingoes..remnants of..tribes dispersed by the conquests of Charka and Moselakatze..and held in..slavery by the Amascosa tribes.
1899 E. Ross Diary of Siege of Mafeking (1980) 55About 50 Fingoes went out last night for the purpose of worrying up the Boers, but they returned and did not do any damage.
1912 Ayliff & Whiteside Hist. of Abambo 28Fingos..having fled into Hintsa’s country, for refuge..were converted into slaves, and held in the most degrading bondage, the Gcalekas..regarding them in little higher estimation than beasts.
1943 D. Reitz No Outspan 51A religious fanatic of the Fingo tribe..collected a large following from among the natives in the Transkei territory.
1971 H. Potgieter in Std Encycl. of Sn Afr. IV. 514On their own initiative the Fingos collected funds..for the large educational and training institution of Blytheswood..opened in 1877.
1974 P. Gibbs Right of Line 20Land promised by Rhodes to the Fingoes who had gone up to Rhodesia with the pioneer column — the origin of the present Fingoe Location near Bulawayo.
1979 S. Afr. Panorama July 31The Ninth and last Frontier War..broke out when colonial troops were used to protect the Fingoes against other Xhosa tribes.
1987 Daily Dispatch 14 Feb. 1He asked how Ciskei would be able to fit in with the present number of fragmented tribes in Transkei..while Ciskei comprised Xhosa and Fingos and was not a ‘torn blanket of nations’.
1990 Weekly Mail 8 Feb. 12The 4 000 Mfengu (or Fingo) people of Humansdorp received a total of R200 000 in compensation for improvements to their land.
b. combinations
Fingo-Kafir, also Fingoe Kaffir, a Fingo person (see sense a) ;
Fingoland, see quotation 1971 .
1866 W.C. Holden Past & Future 284Natal Kaffirs, means those who reside in Natal; and Fingoe Kaffirs, those who reside on the frontier of the Cape Colony. These two are actually the same..the former being those who remained in Natal..the latter being those who were fully dispersed, and found their way into the old colony.
1872 Wesleyan Missionary Reports 73There must be 25,000 or 30,000 Kafirs and Fingo-Kafirs in this Circuit, the great mass of whom are still heathen.
1902 Encycl. Brit. XXX. 3The formerly degraded but now respected and civilized Fingos or Fengus, who gave their name to the district of Fingoland.
c1911 S. Playne Cape Col. 694The Division of Peddie..includes Fingoland, which has been occupied by the Fingoes since they were driven from their own country by the Zulus many years ago.
1937 B.J.F. Laubscher Sex, Custom & Psychopathology 211A small number of families of the mental patients who did not visit their children or relatives were visited wherever possible in..Fingoland.
1971 H. Potgieter in Std Encycl. of Sn Afr. IV. 514Fingoland, C.P. Region in the Transkei, between the Great Kei and the Bashee Rivers, containing the villages of Butterworth, Nqamakwe, Tsomo, and Idutywa as well as parts of their districts.
Mfengu. Also attributive.
, a Fingo person (see sense a)
, see quotation 1971
Entry Navigation

Visualise Quotations

Quotation summary

Senses

18271990

Browse Related Words

By Category

Peoples
Mfecane

By Origin

IsiXhosa
finger-trek, nounn.fink, nounn.
Copyright © 2025 Dictionary Unit for South African English