Sonqua, plural noun

/ˈsɔŋkwa//ˈsɒŋkwə/
Forms:
Sankwa, SaunquaShow more Also Sankwa, Saunqua, Songua, Sonquas, Sunqua.
Origin:
KhoikhoiShow more Khoikhoi, variant of Sanqua, San (see San) + plural suffix -qua.
historical
(The) members of the San (sense 1) people.
Note:
As is the case with many names of peoples and groups in South African English, ‘Sonqua’ has been found only in plural uses; however, it may be that it has also been used in unrecorded singular forms.
1688 G. Tachard Voy. to Siam 68The first Nation in the language of the country, is called Sonquas. The Europeans call those people Hottentots...There is not one Nation who besides their own Natives have not also Sonquas in their Militia.
1930 I. Schapera KhoiSan Peoples 31The Bushmen do not appear to have any general or collective names for themselves...The Hottentots term them all San. The meaning of this word is uncertain, but Hahn interprets it as ‘aborigines, or settlers proper’. The names Sunqua, Saunqua, Sonqua, etc. by which the Bushmen are often referred to in the early records of the Cape, are merely verbal variations of its masc. plur. form Sa(n)qua.
1966 J.P. van S. Bruwer S.W. Afr.: Disputed Land 19These roaming pastoralists [the Nama] referred to themselves as Khoi-Khoi or ‘people of people’ to distinguish themselves from the Bushmen, whom they called the San or Sankwa, and the Dama indicated as Daman or Black People.
1981 Newton-King & Malherbe Khoikhoi Rebellion 1The hunter-gatherers, though their languages were sometimes mutually unintelligible, were collectively called San or Sonqua by the pastoralists.
(The) members of the San (sense 1) people.
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16881981

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songololo, tshongololo, nounn.sopie, nounn.
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