Rharhabe, noun

/xaˈxaːbe/
Forms:
Hahabee, HahabiShow more Also Hahabee, Hahabi, Kakabi, Khakhabe, Rarabe.
Plurals:
unchanged, amaRharhabe, or Rharhabes.
Origin:
Named for the Xhosa leader Rharhabe (c1722–1787).
a. A member of a major division of the Xhosa people, historically based in the central and southern parts of what is now the Eastern Cape; Ngqika sense b. See also Xhosa noun sense 1 a. Cf. Gcaleka sense 1. b. obsolete. Ngqika sense a (so called through confusion as to the composition and leadership of the two peoples). Also attributive.
Note:
Formed when Rharhabe and his brother Gcaleka quarrelled over the right to succession. Gcaleka won the battle, and Rharhabe and his followers moved south of the Kei River, leading to the division into Rharhabe and Gcaleka people and to the creation of the territories later known as Ciskei and Transkei; The Rharhabe later divided into the Ndlambe and the Ngqika (sense a).
[1803 J.T. Van der Kemp in Trans. of Missionary Soc. I. 433Chachabee, who governed this country..about the year 1780.]
1809 R. Collins in G.M. Theal Rec. of Cape Col. (1900) VII. 20His son Jalamba, finding his force unequal to a contest with the Hahabees, retired with his people into Agter Bruintjies Hoogte.
1837 J.M. Bowker Speeches & Sel. (1864) 39We, the Fingo chiefs..have thought fit to make this declaration..that we, with the people residing under us, were never servants or dependants of the Amahahabi tribes of Kafirs on this side of the Kye river.
1841 B. Shaw Memorials 247Do you hear now, you Amakakabi, (Slambie’s tribe of Kaffirs), and you Gonakwebu, (Pato’s tribe of Kaffirs).
1887 S.W. Silver & Co.’s Handbk to S. Afr. 44In the meanwhile Hintsa, unable to hold out against the British troops, sues for peace..giving his assistance in bringing the Rarabe chiefs to submission.
1920 S.M. Molema Bantu Past & Present 72In 1818 he joined Ndlambe in his fight against his nephew Ngqika, chief of the Amararabe people, who now called themselves Ama-Ngqika, after their chief.
1931 J.H. Soga Ama-Xosa 7About 1750, through internecine war, the right-hand house, the Ama-Rarabe or Gaikas, became independent of the great house of the Gcalekas.
1968 F.C. Metrowich Frontier Flames 1It was with these Rarabes (or Gaikas as they were subsequently called) that the colonists had first come into contact and with whom most of the Kaffir Wars were directly concerned.
1972 Daily Dispatch 22 Feb. 2An assurance that there was no danger or possibility of a split among the Rarabe tribe in the Ciskei was made by the chairman of Rarabe tribunal..in a statement yesterday.
1978 Bona Oct. 18The Tshawe clan of the Rarabe tribe in the Ciskei must be one of the few tribes in South Africa that has its own community centre.
1988 R. Thornton in Boonzaier & Sharp S. Afr. Keywords 21Sandile, paramount chief of the Xhosa-speaking Rharhabe.
A member of a major division of the Xhosa people, historically based in the central and southern parts of what is now the Eastern Cape; Ngqika sense b.
Ngqika sense a (so called through confusion as to the composition and leadership of the two peoples). Also attributive.
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obsolete or obsolescent
restriction, nounn.rhebok, nounn.
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