hlonipha, verb

/ɬɔˈniːpa//ˈhlɒnɪpə/
Forms:
Also hlonipa.
Origin:
A verb common to the Nguni languages, meaning ‘pay respect to’, ‘observe a system of ritual avoidance in speech’.
a. transitive. To pay (someone or something) respect; to avoid (a sound, word, or name which is regarded as taboo) in order to show respect.
1870 H. Callaway Religious System of Amazulu (1884) 316The women must respect (hlonipa) her husband’s name: she does not call him by name, but as here, when addressing him or speaking of him, says, ‘Father of so-and-so,’ mentioning one of his children by name.
1870 H. Callaway Religious System of Amazulu (1884) 426We abstain from calling the tree umdhleve: for we do not take its name in vain, for it is an awful tree. [Source Note: That is, its name is hlonipad. It is ‘tabu’, and must not be called by name.]
1875 D. Leslie Among Zulus 173At the King’s kraal it is sometimes difficult to understand his wives, as they Hlonipa even the very sound of the name of the King’s fathers.
1925 D. Kidd Essential Kafir 237A woman may not sit in the same hut with the people whom she has to hlonipa, and she must be specially careful not to uncover in their presence any part of her body which is usually covered up.
1959 L. Longmore Dispossessed 27They do not hlonipha (pay respect to) their mothers-in-law, and in many cases they even assault them.
1967 J.A. Broster Red Blanket Valley 70By this strange custom a daughter in law is required to Hlonipha (reverence) her father in law and all her husband’s adult male relatives. She is not allowed to pronounce their names, and when the emphatic syllable of either of their names occurs in any other word she must avoid it by substituting an entirely new word or another syllable in its place.
1970 J.P. van S. Bruwer in Std Encycl. of Sn Afr. II. 96A wife must hlonipha her in-laws, in other words she must act humbly and respectfully toward them and shun them.
b. intransitive. To practise the system of ritual avoidance as observed especially by Xhosa and Zulu wives as a mark of respect towards their male relatives by marriage.
1934 P.R. Kirby Musical Instruments of Native Races (1965) 266Immediately after the completion of the ceremony, the people hlonipha, or ‘abstain from the use of certain words’. Accordingly for unyaga (year) they say umKhosi weKosi (feast of the chief).
To pay (someone or something) respect; to avoid (a sound, word, or name which is regarded as taboo) in order to show respect.
To practise the system of ritual avoidance as observed especially by Xhosa and Zulu wives as a mark of respect towards their male relatives by marriage.
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hlonipha, nounn. & adjectiveadj.Hlubi, nounn.
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