ingcibi, noun

/iˈŋǀiːbi/
Forms:
Also incibe, incibi.
Plurals:
iingcibi.
Origin:
IsiXhosaShow more IsiXhosa ingcibi (plural izingcibi) a skilled worker, artisan.
In traditional Xhosa society: a man responsible for circumcising initiates. See also circumcision sense 1.
Note:
See note at ikhankatha.
1866 W.C. Holden Past & Future 284The name of these witch doctors or priests, amongst the Amaxosa Kaffirs, is amagqira and incibe; among the Natal and Amazulu [sic], isanusi and inyanga.
1937 B.J.F. Laubscher Sex, Custom & Psychopathology 114The next office to be filled is that of incibi, the operator, more commonly known as the expert. A necessary qualification for an incibi is that he should have dreamt that he circumcised boys; after which he must have acquired experience by circumcising his own relatives before he is allowed to circumcise others.
1956 A. Sampson Drum 90When he was twenty, in the holidays from Lovedale College, he underwent the Xhosa initiation ceremony. ‘Say, “I am a man,”’ said the Ingcibi, or tribal surgeon, after the painful circumcision.
1962 W.D. Hammond-Tooke Bhaca Soc. 81Elaborate initiation ceremonies are held annually at which large numbers of boys are circumcised at one time...The operation is performed by experts (iingcibi) and the whole ceremony is still an important and vigorous element of social life.
1976 Daily Dispatch 20 Aug. 4An ‘ingcibi’..said Port Elizabeth Africans were keen to take their sons for manhood training but the custom was not done properly.
1979 Daily Dispatch 9 Feb. (Indaba) 7Mr Mdledle suggested the operation could be done by a medical doctor while Mr Tyamzashe still favoured a traditional ingcibi.
1980 E. Joubert Long Journey of Poppie Nongena 272On the first day in the bush the boys are cut...A special man, an incibi, is hired to do it and we paid him three rand and a bottle of brandy.
1989 J. Matyu in Weekend Post 9 Dec. 7The ingcibi’s fee covers the surgical operation which is R25, R25 for his guardian (ikankatha) duties to nurse the umkwetha until he heals completely, and R5 for his medicine consisting of herbal salves and soft medicinal leaves (isicwe) used to bind the wound.
a man responsible for circumcising initiates.
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18661989

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IsiXhosa
informal, adjectiveadj.ingcubhe, nounn.
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