hlonipha, noun and & adjective

/ɬɔˈniːpa//ˈhlɒnɪpə/
Forms:
Also hlonipa, and (as noun) ukuhlonipa.
Origin:
IsiXhosa, isiZuluShow more From hlonipha (see hlonipha verb), or from isiXhosa intlonipho, isiZulu inhlonipho ‘respect’, ‘reverence’, a word substituted for another in terms of hlonipha custom.
A. noun A system of ritual avoidance observed as a mark of respect especially by Xhosa and Zulu wives towards their male relatives by marriage; a code of manners, observed especially in the avoidance of names and similar-sounding words.
Note:
Youths undergoing circumcision rites also observe this custom.
1850 J.W. Appleyard Kafir Lang. 70The Kaffir women have many words peculiar to themselves. This arises from a national custom, called ukuhlonipa.
1857 J. Shooter Kafirs of Natal 221Individuals affected by the custom of uku-hlonipa, may not pronounce each other’s i-gama [proper name].
1860 W. Shaw Story of my Mission 425The custom called hlonipa requires that certain relatives by marriage shall never look on each other’s face,..more especially a daughter-in-law and all her husband’s male relations...She is not allowed to pronounce their names, even mentally; and, whenever the emphatic syllable of either of their names occurs in any other word, she must avoid it, by either substituting an entirely new word, or at least another syllable, in its place. This custom has given rise to an almost distinct language among the women.
1875 D. Leslie Among Zulus 102A wife must never speak to her husband’s male relations, but must hide, or appear to do so, whenever she sees them. The husband must not speak to, look at, or eat with his mother-in-law. And neither husband nor wife must utter their relations’ names. This is called ‘Hlonipa’.
1937 B.H. Dicke Bush Speaks 167Hlonipa is the name for a tabu which forbids females to use certain words, in particular the names of their husbands and chiefs.
1948 E. Hellmann Rooiyard 86The avoidance of the name of the parent-in-law of the opposite sex seems to be the whole extent of the urban Native’s observance of hlonipa.
1967 O. Walker Hippo Poacher 6The dignity is threadbare, the hlonipa, or code of manners, rudely upset by the contacts of the migrant young men selling their labour in the towns.
1967 J.A. Broster Red Blanket Valley 160When he spoke again his voice had changed to a solemn semi-ritual tone, and the words were hlonipa, the court language reserved for God and all that is revered or feared.
1976 West & Morris Abantu 40She is expected to behave respectfully to her husband’s kin and has to practise hlonipa, the avoidance of senior relatives in front of whom she has to keep her eyes lowered and whose names she has to refrain from using.
1981 B. Mfenyana in M. Mutloatse Reconstruction 300Dialect and slanguage probes are fun: as long as the scholar respects people’s desire for a little privacy, secrecy, hlonipha.
B. adjective
1. obsolete. (Predicative use.) Taboo; forbidden as a mark of respect.
1895 H. Rider Haggard Nada 181‘Mindest thou of the last words of the Great Elephant, who is dead?’ This he said meaning Chaka his brother, only he did not name him, for now the name of Chaka was hlonipa in the land, as is the custom with the names of dead kings...It was not lawful that it should pass the lips.
2. attributive Of or pertaining to the hlonipha tradition.
1902 G.M. Theal Beginning of S. Afr. Hist. 31First there was the hlonipa custom, by which women were obliged constantly to invent new words, so that each dialect underwent gradual dissimilar changes.
1937 B.H. Dicke Bush Speaks 167Hlonipa Names.
1948 E. Hellmann Rooiyard 86The hlonipa laws seem to be observed by the majority of urban Natives in so far as a woman will not use her father-in-law’s name, and a man will avoid the name of his mother-in-law.
1955 E.A. Ritter Shaka Zulu 370Both sexes and all ages must observe the hlonipa custom in the case of the chief of the clan.
1978 A. Elliott Sons of Zulu 172Apart from a display of basic humility, she pays respect in specific ways according to hlonipha requirements...She refrains from using many everyday Zulu words in her conversation and instead uses a special vocabulary of substitute words in their place.
A system of ritual avoidance observed as a mark of respect especially by Xhosa and Zulu wives towards their male relatives by marriage; a code of manners, observed especially in the avoidance of names and similar-sounding words.
(Predicative use.) Taboo; forbidden as a mark of respect.
Of or pertaining to the hlonipha tradition.
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obsolete or obsolescent
hlala kahle, interjectional phraseint. phr.hlonipha, verbv.
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