Nguni, noun and & adjective
/əŋˈɡuːni/, /(ə)ŋˈɡʊːni/
- Origin:
- IsiZuluShow more IsiZulu, noun stem of umnguni (a person of) the Nguni group (plural abanguni, abenguni), and of isinguni the Nguni language group.
A. noun
1.
a. plural. (The) members of a subdivision of the Sintu-speaking (Bantu-speaking) peoples, comprising the Ndebele, Ngoni, Swazi, Xhosa, Zulu, and some smaller peoples, all of whom have a common historical origin and speak closely-related languages.
- Note:
- Originally and mainly resident in the eastern regions of southern Africa.
1929 A.T. Bryant Olden Times in Zululand & Natal 3The natives of South-Eastern Africa we distinguish as of three separate families, which we call respectively Ngúni, in Zululand, the Transvaal, Natal and the Cape; Sutú..and Tónga.
1986 P.A. McAllister Xhosa Beer Drinks. 42The ritual significance of beer, common throughout Africa, seems to have been greater among Sotho-speakers and Venda than among Nguni.
b. plural With qualifying word:
1957 C.G. Seligman Races of Afr. (1939) 168This group (sc. Eastern Southern Bantu) consists of two main subdivisions Nguni and Tsonga. The former include the Cape Nguni of the Ciskei and Transkei..together with the ‘Fingo’, fugitive remnants of tribes broken up in Natal..; the Natal Nguni or ‘Zulu’ of Natal and Zululand, with their offshoot the Ndebele (Tebele) of Southern Rhodesia; the Swazi of Swaziland and the Eastern Transvaal; and the ‘Transvaal Ndebele’ of Central and Northern Transvaal.
1990 Weekend Post 7 July 4Xhosa tribal art is breaking artistic records in Port Elizabeth. The exhibition of Southern Nguni art..is set to become one of the most popular and longest-running ever held in the city.
2.
a. Used collectively: the group of languages spoken by the Nguni, the dominant languages being isiNdebele, siSwati, isiXhosa, and isiZulu.
- Note:
- Formerly called the kaffir group of languages (offensive).
1939 N.J. Van Warmelo in A.M. Duggan-Cronin Bantu Tribes III. i. 13Nguni..occupies a unique position in the non-Bantu family of languages, in so far as words containing the non-Bantu clicks occur in great abundance.
1981 Star 18 June 3Programmes, he said, would reflect black viewers’ tastes and he expected black viewership to be about eight people a set, compared with about 3,5 white people a set. ‘I see it as a service for black people, run and produced by black people.’ It will start on one channel broadcasting in both Nguni and Sotho, but within a year will expand to two channels.
b. comb. (objective)
1980 D.B. Coplan Urbanization of African Performing Arts. 78By this time, mission communities were well established throughout the southern Cape and Transkei, swelled by members of homeless Nguni-speaking clans pushed into Xhosa country by Zulu expansionism during the 1820’s and 1830’s.
1994 N. Naudé in Conserva May–July 14The same colours are found among..the Nguni-speaking groups along the South African east coast.
3. In full Nguni cattle: a breed of cattle related to the Sanga, indigenous to Africa and traditionally the breed most commonly kept by Nguni people; Zulu noun sense 3. Also attributive. See also Native adjective sense 2. Cf. Nkone.
1939 N.J. Van Warmelo in A.M. Duggan-Cronin Bantu Tribes III. i. 14The Nguni Cattle..belong to one distinct strain (termed Zulu cattle by investigators), whereas two other distinct strains (Tswana and Kalanga Cattle) were bred by the non-Nguni tribes of the interior plateau.
1994 S. Chetty in Sunday Times 30 Jan. 15Among the livestock kept are Nguni cattle, goats and sheep.
B. adjective
1. In, of, or pertaining to one or more of the languages of the Nguni. See also sense A 2 a.
1929 A.T. Bryant Olden Times in Zululand & Natal 5Captured Bushwomen became common in their homes...And the children..adopted..in a Bantuized form, much of the slave-girl’s speech. Hence the clicks in Nguni speech.
2. Of or pertaining to the Nguni (see sense A 1). Occasionally in the collocation Nguniland ?nonce [English land], that area of the province of KwaZulu-Natal generally known as ‘Zululand’.
1939 [see sense A 3].
1992 G. Templeton in Weekend Post 8 Feb. (Leisure) 4The path up the river bank leads to a cave, probably used by early San (Bushmen) and Nguni people, and across a wooden bridge to another cave from where the lovely Strandloper Falls can be seen.
plural. (The) members of a subdivision of the Sintu-speaking (Bantu-speaking) peoples, comprising the Ndebele, Ngoni, Swazi, Xhosa, Zulu, and some smaller peoples, all of whom have a common historical origin and speak closely-related languages.
the group of languages spoken by the Nguni, the dominant languages being isiNdebele, siSwati, isiXhosa, and isiZulu.
In full Nguni cattle:a breed of cattle related to the Sanga, indigenous to Africa and traditionally the breed most commonly kept by Nguni people; Zulu noun sense 3. Also attributive.
In, of, or pertaining to one or more of the languages of the Nguni. See also sense A 2 a.
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