tata, noun
/ˈtaːta/
- Forms:
- Also tat’, utata.
- Origin:
- IsiXhosa
a. A respectful form of address to a father, a paternal uncle, or any older man.
1963 Wilson & Mafeje Langa 87A girl will use tata, the equivalent of the more familiar ‘daddy’, rather than ‘father’, and tata is used in the extended sense by both men and women, for father’s brothers and senior men, but not bawo as it was traditionally.
1992 J. Myburgh in Weekend Argus 22 Feb. 5They call him ‘Tata’ (Xhosa for father), but when he ‘makes us cross, we call him Comrade President’.
b. A respectful form of reference to a father or an older man; also used before a name, as a title, sometimes in the construction tata-ka-, ‘father of’.
1990 City Press 11 Mar. 7Mangope..recently referred sarcastically to bo-Tat’uMandela, Tat’uSisulu etc, as ‘Mabinditi’, a derogatory name for old convicts.
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