Tixo, noun

/ˈtiː‖ɔ/
Forms:
Thico Thixo, TikquoaShow more Also Thico Thixo, Tikquoa, Tuiqua, Uteco, uThico uThixo, Utika, Uti’ko, Utiko, Utixo.
Origin:
IsiXhosa, KhoikhoiShow more IsiXhosa uThixo God, from Khoikhoi Tixwa or Tiqua, see quotations 1803 and 1827.
Used first among the Khoikhoi, and subsequently among isiXhosa-speakers (the word having been adopted by missionaries): the traditional Supreme Being; the Christian God; also used as a mode of address in prayer, and as an interjection; Qamata. Cf. Modimo, umvelinqangi, Unkulunkulu. See also uhlanga.
1731 G. Medley tr. of P. Kolben’s Present State of Cape of G.H. I. 29The Hottentots say...That they (sc. their First Parents) were sent into their Country by God himself, whom they call Tikquoa.
1803 J.T. Van der Kemp in Trans. of Missionary Soc. I. 432A decisive proof..with respect to the atheism of the Caffres, is, that they have no word in their language to express the Deity,..calling him Thixo, which is a corruption of Thuike, the name by which God is called in the language of the Hottentots, literally signifying one who induces pain.
1812 A. Plumptre tr. of H. Lichtenstein’s Trav. in Sn Afr. (1928) I. 253They (sc. the Xhosa people) believe in the existence of a great Being who created the world, but in their own language..they have no name by which he is called: they have therefore adopted one from the Gonaaquas, who call him Thiko.
1827 J. Brownlee in G. Thompson Trav. 352The Caffers believe in a Supreme Being, to whom they give the appellation of Uhlanga (Supreme), or frequently the Hottentot name Utika (Beautiful).
1834 T. Pringle Afr. Sketches 502Utiko, a term now in general use among many of the South African tribes for the Supreme Being, is derived from the Hottentot word ‘Tiko’, which is said literally to signify ‘The Beautiful’. It has been adopted by the missionaries to denote the true God.
1846 R. Moffat Missionary Labours 68The Hottentot word Uti’ko is now used by all the frontier (Kafir) tribes to denote the Christian’s God.
1849 E.D.H.E. Napier Excursions in Sn Afr. II. 53He said he was sent by Uteka, the Great Spirit, to avenge their wrongs.
1860 W. Shaw Story of my Mission 451After long and careful consideration, the Missionaries have generally concurred in the adoption of the word Utixo as the name for God; and throughout the Colony to beyond the Umzimvubu River no other meaning is attached to this word by the Kaffirs.
1905 W.H. Tooke in Flint & Gilchrist Science in S. Afr. 88The Kafirs..believe also in the spirits of the dead...Their word for God is Unkulunkulu, denoting the first man or progenitor; also Uhlanga and Itongo, the Great Spirit...Other terms for God are Tixo and Qamata.
1918 H. Moore Land of Good Hope 117Some tribes..say that Tixo (a Hottentot word) made Unkulunkulu.
1925 D. Kidd Essential Kafir 104One myth runs thus: Teco, or Tixo, made three kinds of men, namely, Hottentots, Kafirs, and white men.
1948 A. Paton Cry, Beloved Country 30It would be truer to say, he said, that she has many husbands. Kumalo said, Tixo! Tixo!
1948 A. Paton Cry, Beloved Country 213He prays, Tixo, we give thanks to Thee for Thy unending mercy. Tixo give us rain, we beseech Thee.
1952 S. Bava in Drum Jan. 23M’bolekwa was horrified. ‘God! Tixo!’ he gasped.
1963 A.M. Louw 20 Days 95The Xhosa umfundisi had said a thing she had remembered. ‘uThico is the big salt bag and we are the little salt bags. When we are empty we must go to Him to be filled again.’
1973 Drum 8 May 24A rhino does not only charge. It takes its time and knows just when to charge, and when it does, hoo, Tixo.
1980 M. Matshoba in M. Mutloatse Forced Landing 119You defend abeLungu by saying they do not know? Now, my boy, tell me this: is this — the way we live, all of us blacks — our rightful legacy from the ancestors, or from Tixo who made heaven and earth.
1983 Pace Oct. 70The shock of shocks is that the two men are buddies, thixo!
1983 Pace Oct. 174Tshini Mfondini!..Another woman broke in...‘au, au, au, Thixo!’ and got into the graveyard act of feigning a faint.
1990 [see igqira].
the traditional Supreme Being; the Christian God; also used as a mode of address in prayer, and as an interjection; Qamata.
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17311983

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