Hlubi, noun

/ˈɬuːbi/
Plurals:
Hlubis, Amahlubi, or unchanged.
Origin:
Named for an early leader; see quotation 1912.
A member of a people of the Nguni group, living in northern KwaZulu-Natal. Also attributive.
Note:
Some of the Hlubi migrated southwards during the Mfecane, and became part of the Mfengu group.
1902 [see Mbo sense 2 a].
1912 Ayliff & Whiteside Hist. of Abambo 2The whole tribe numbered about 250,000...It was divided into clans, each with a distinctive name. The largest were the Amahlubi (people who tear off), whose chief was Bungane, and they lived in the upper portion of the Buffalo River Valley.
1930 S.T. Plaatje Mhudi (1975) 95You understand the language of the Basuto, and of the Qoranna and the Hlubis, and the Boers down in Graaff Reinet, don’t you, Rantsau?
1936 Cambridge Hist. of Brit. Empire VIII. 454The Hlubi clan had been driven by the Zulus into Natal. There, under their great chief, Langalibalele (‘the sun is shining’), they had been allowed to settle on the north-west frontier, bordering Basutoland.
1940 P.R. Kirby Diary of Dr Andrew Smith II. 169Mpangazita, chief of the Hlubi, another Nguni tribe.
1954 W.D. Hammond-Tooke in A.M. Duggan-Cronin Bantu Tribes III. v. 17The name Hlubi appears to be of comparatively recent origin. Previously the tribe was known as the imiHuhu..even this was not the original name.
1954 W.D. Hammond-Tooke in A.M. Duggan-Cronin Bantu Tribes III. v. 19The two sections united under the name Hlubi, that of Dlomo’s maternal grandfather. In the second decade of the nineteenth century the Hlubi were probably one of the most powerful tribes in Natal.
1965 M. Hansen in Sunday Chronicle 7 Feb.The Hlubis, a small tribe of Basutos in Northern Zululand..were settled in the Nqutu area in 1870 after the Zulu War.
1979 Sunday Tribune 3 June 30The short-lived reign of Langalibalele II, the self-styled king of the AmaHlubi tribe in the Estcourt district, is over.
1980 Lye & Murray Transformations 31The first major refugee from Shaka’s fury was the Hlubi chiefdom, possibly the largest among the Northern Nguni.
1986 P. Maylam Hist. of Afr. People 87The first half of the nineteenth century had been a traumatic period for the Hlubi. They had suffered severe disruption during the difaqane.
1993 C. Stagg in Sunday Times 10 Apr. 4Among the claims under consideration by Acla is that of the Amahlubi people, who occupied 90 000ha of land in Natal.
A member of a people of the Nguni group, living in northern KwaZulu-Natal. Also attributive.
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