Grigriqua, plural noun

/ɡrɪˈɡrɪkwə/
Forms:
Also Grigriquas.
Origin:
See Griqua.
obs. except in historical contexts
Collectively, the members of a Khoikhoi people believed to have been the ancestors of the Griqua people; at first called Chariguriqua.
Note:
As is the case with many names of peoples and groups in South African English, this word has been found only in plural uses; however, it may be that it has also been used in unrecorded singular forms.
1862 Abstracts in Stat. Law of Cape of G.H. p.xviiiJuly 20, 1693...Mention of the Soosequas, Heesequas, Ubiquas, Grigriquas, and Namaquas.
1930 I. Schapera KhoiSan Peoples 46Another group, the Grigriqua or Chariguriqua, after receiving a considerable infiltration of white blood, moved away to the north about the middle of the eighteenth century...Here it was gradually joined by other half-breed Hottentots, or ‘Bastards’, a name by which these people now began to call themselves. The missionary John Campbell..induced them to resume their old but almost forgotten and now mutilated name of Griqua.
1957 L.G. Green Beyond City Lights 177Originally there was a pure Hottentot tribe, the Grigriqua, and these people seem to have become a mixed group as a result of early contact with..Germans and others in the service of the Dutch East India Company at the Cape.
1968 E.A. Walker Hist. of Sn Afr. 36Explorers and visitors soon taught him (sc. Van Riebeeck) of the existence of other clans:..Little Grigriquas on this side of the Olifant’s river, and Great Grigriquas and Namaquas beyond.
1986 [see Griqua sense 1].
Collectively, the members of a Khoikhoi people believed to have been the ancestors of the Griqua people; at first called Chariguriqua.
Entry Navigation

Visualise Quotations

Quotation summary

Senses

18621968

Browse Related Words

By Category

Peoples

By Usage

obsolete or obsolescent
Grietjie, nounn.gril, nounn.
Copyright © 2025 Dictionary Unit for South African English