quagga, noun
- Forms:
- Show more Also kwaga, kwagga, and (formerly) kwakka, quacha, quager, quagger, quaggha, quagha, quaker, quakka, qwagga.
- Plurals:
- unchanged, or quaggas.
- Origin:
- South African Dutch, Khoikhoi, IsiXhosaShow more South African Dutch (probably from Khoikhoi), onomatopoeic, named for the braying of the species; current in isiXhosa as iqwarha quagga, Burchell’s zebra, mountain zebra.
1.
a. Any of several zebras of the Equidae. i. The extinct Equus quagga; mountain zebra sense (c), see mountain; wild ass, see wild sense b. ii. Burchell’s zebra, E. burchelli; bontequagga, bontquagga, see sense 1 b below; mountain zebra sense (b), see mountain. iii. The mountain zebra (sense (a) see mountain), E. zebra zebra. Also attributive.
- Note:
- In earlier times the distinctions between the different species were not always noted, but the name ‘quagga’ is now used primarily for the extinct Equus quagga, a zebra once found at the southern tip of Africa and now recognised, from genetic information, as a sub-species of E. burchelli (see quotation 1991).
[1776 F. Masson in Phil. Trans. of Royal Soc. LXVI. 297We saw numbers of wild animals, and in particular a variety of the Zebra, called by the Hottentots Opeagha.]
1993 Sunday Times 16 May 2Reproduction history is to be made on Tuesday when South African scientists implant a zebra embryo into a horse in an attempt to revive the extinct quagga.
b. With defining word:
1990 Skinner & Smithers Mammals of Sn Afr. Subregion 719The name quagga was applied to E. burchelli as well, although later bontquagga was used.
2. Special Combinations
1835 A. Smith Diary (1940) II. 79Quagga bok: About the size of a spring bok; striped blackish and dull white down the sides.
1913 C. Pettman Africanderisms 388Quagga quick,..The name given to a species of grass that springs up in the Karoo veld after heavy rains.
Any of several zebras of the Equidae. i. The extinct Equus quagga; mountain zebra sense (c), see mountain; wild ass, see wild sense b. ii. Burchell’s zebra, E. burchelli; bontequagga, bontquagga, see sense 1 b below; mountain zebra sense (b), see mountain. iii. The mountain zebra (sense (a) see mountain), E. zebra zebra. Also attributive.
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