siyayinyova, interjection and & noun
- Forms:
- Show more Also sayinyova, siya inyova, siyanyova.
- Origin:
- IsiZuluShow more IsiZulu sentence, ‘we are going to crush it’, ‘we are going to turn it upside down’.
‖A. interjection ‘We are going to destroy’: a slogan chanted at left-wing political marches and associated particularly with young political activists.
1985 Drum Dec. 30Once pupils take up the battle cry ‘Siya Inyova — We are spoiling for trouble’ no one dare stand in their way.
1987 G. Mhlope in Best of S. Afr. Short Stories (1991) 454They poured out of their classes...They were shouting ‘Siyayinyova!’ at the tops of their little voices. They picked up rocks and bricks and started attacking buses, company delivery vans and police cars.
B. noun , plural siyayinyovas, abosiyayinyova, or unchanged. [The pl. prefix abo- is from the Nguni languages.] A young activist, especially one advocating or taking part in violent protest, or in the informal policing of a township. Cf. comrade.
1986 True Love Feb. 2When people are not talking about ‘abosayinyova’, the talk in taxis, buses, trains and homes is about the randy gorilla.
1988 Z.C. Ndaba in Staffrider Vol.7 No.1, 20Since they left school they have been associating with bad elements. They have even joined abo ‘siyayinyova’...He knew that the township would be buzzing with the ‘comrades’ singing and chanting in the streets and that if they found him there he would be doused with petrol and set alight. He had heard too many such stories since ‘abo siyayinyova’ had come to rule the township.
‘We are going to destroy’: a slogan chanted at left-wing political marches and associated particularly with young political activists.
A young activist, especially one advocating or taking part in violent protest, or in the informal policing of a township.
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