sehalahala, noun

/sehalaˈhaːla/
Forms:
Also sahalahala, sohalahala.
Origin:
Southern SothoShow more Southern Sotho; special use of the Lesotho name for any of several shrubs, including Eriocephalus punctulatus.
The aromatic woody shrub Eriocephalus punctulatus of the Asteraceae, from which an essential oil is obtained for the perfume industry. Also attributive.
1957 A.A. Murray Blanket 58A thick column of blue smoke rose steadily into the still air, charged with the smell of burning fat and cow dung and the sweet-smelling sehalahala bush.
1968 A. Fulton Dark Side of Mercy 15There was no wood in the mountains; sohalahala and disu were the only sources of fuel.
1968 A. Fulton Dark Side of Mercy 26A chill wind whipped the sohalahala bushes into a frenzied dance.
1974 S. Afr. Panorama May 33‘Sahalahala’ the Basuto of Lesotho call the grey shrub which grows high up against the slopes of their highland home...One of the only two naturally blue essential oils known to the world’s perfume industry is extracted from ‘Sahalahala’...Even Mr. de la Harpe, senior, could hardly have guessed then that ‘sahalahala’ oil would one day become a sought-after product on the world perfume market.
c1976 H. Flather Thaba Rau 46As there is neither peat nor timber at Thaba Rau we have had to improvise, and the answer to our problem is summed up in the simple word ‘sehalahala’...He picked up a bunch of sehalahala. ‘Seriously,’ he said, ‘that is how we heat the geyser — with this stuff’.
The aromatic woody shrub Eriocephalus punctulatus of the Asteraceae, from which an essential oil is obtained for the perfume industry. Also attributive.
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19571976

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Sesotho and Sesotho sa Leboa
seepkissie, nounn.self-governing, participial adjectivepart. adj.
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