sanna, noun

/ˈsana//ˈsanə/
Forms:
Also with initial capital.
Origin:
AfrikaansShow more Afrikaans, shortened form of the name Susanna.
1. In historical contexts. roer sense a.
1900 H. Blore Imp. Light Horseman 214You will all have heard of his skill with the rifle..the old-fashioned Sanna (Susan), the flint-lock musket.
1950 H.C. Bosman in L. Abrahams Bekkersdal Marathon (1971) 19Gunpowder and lead, and oil to make the springs of our old sannas work smoothly.
1955 L.G. Green Karoo 110The father had his flintlock muzzle-loader with him, an old-fashioned ‘Sanna’.
1963 A.M. Louw 20 Days 52Here we are going about as usual this morning and not a gun in the house except Oupa’s old sanna.
1971 Std Encycl. of Sn Afr. IV. 520The true or French flint lock, known in South Africa as the ‘snaphaan’ or ‘sanna’, was..an improved version of the Dutch snaphaan, in that the frizzen and pan cover were now one unit.
1972 D.W. Krüger in Std Encycl. of Sn Afr. VII. 399Both the British troops and the burgher commandos used the flint-lock, which was in general use from about 1760 to 1840. This was the famous ‘Brown Bess’, the standard weapon during the American War of Independence and the Napoleonic Wars. In South Africa this muzzle-loader was known as the ‘sanna’ and was made famous by the Voortrekkers.
1975 W. Steenkamp Land of Thirst King 58A long smoothbore ‘sanna’ of the Voortrekker pattern, almost six feet long from the gaping muzzle with its ivory-tipped forestock to the deep-bellied butt.
1977 S. Afr. Panorama Feb. 40In the case of the Voortrekkers..their sannas (flint-lock rifles with frizzen pan) were part of their life..not only for self-defence but also for food.
1989 Reader’s Digest Illust. Hist. of S. Afr. 116The loading of the sanna (the name they gave to the muzzle-loading rifles they used) was a complicated procedure.
2. In full Sanna 77: a light semi-automatic machine-gun.
1978 S. Afr. Digest 29 Sept. 4The Sanna 77, said to be the first fully South African-made, semi-automatic hand machine-gun, has been launched in Durban.
1979 Farmer’s Weekly 21 Mar. 10The latest in an increasingly long line of South African weaponry is the Sanna 77. It’s a light, handy weapon designed with survival in mind.
1979 Farmer’s Weekly 11It’s the lines of the Sanna 77 that provides [sic] that special interest, for this semi-automatic 9 mm Parabellum hand carbine is a light, handy weapon.
1979 Farmer’s Weekly 12The manufacturers of the Sanna maintain that the weapon — it’s a fixed striker, blowback-operated gun — has an effective range of 300 m.
1986 M. Gwala in S. Ndaba One Day in June 61Ideas more long-ranged than an FN rifle or a Sanna 77, and more absolute than a hippo, will always crop up and surpass those ideas born of repression.
In full Sanna 77:a light semi-automatic machine-gun.
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sangoma, nounn.Sansco, nounn.
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