morabaraba, noun

/mɔˌrabaˈraba/
Forms:
Also marabaraba.
Origin:
Sotho.
A game played with stones, placed and moved on rows of small holes in the ground, or on lines on a board or large stone, arranged to form concentric squares with diagonal lines passing through their corners; similar in many ways to nine-men’s morris; umlabalaba; tsoro. Also attributive.
1953 P. Lanham Blanket Boy’s Moon 161Mkize looked up from his game of morabaraba and answered him.
1957 A.A. Murray Blanket 28This was the marabaraba stone, and the males of the village, from small herds upwards, would frequently gather around it for a game.
1965 E. Mphahlele Down Second Ave 26I wish Sello’s father was my father too...He plays morabaraba with his boys. Father’d never do that.
1979 Sunday Times 28 Oct. 21On the corner further along, a game of marabaraba, played with stones and holes in the ground.
1979 Pace Sept. 28Friday and Saturday nights are for drinking, singing, gambling and playing ‘morabaraba.’
1981 Sunday Times 27 Dec. 8You’ll soon be seeing a ‘new’ game on the goggle-box. It’s the game that comes out in Zulu as umlabalaba and in Sesotho as marabaraba. Umlabalaba or marabaraba, take your pick, was known to me as a small boy back were I come from as Nine Men’s Morris.
A game played with stones, placed and moved on rows of small holes in the ground, or on lines on a board or large stone, arranged to form concentric squares with diagonal lines passing through their corners; similar in many ways to nine-men’s morris; umlabalaba; tsoro. Also attributive.
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19531981

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Sesotho and Sesotho sa Leboa
moppie, nounn.môre, interjectionint.
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