umfaan, noun

/ʊmˈfɑːn//ˈʌmfɑːn/
Forms:
mfana, oomfaanShow more Also mfana, oomfaan, oomfan, umfan, umfana, umfane.
Plurals:
umfaans, abafana, bafana.
Origin:
IsiZuluShow more Adaptation of isiZulu umfana (plural abafana, and vocative forms, singular mfana, plural bafana) boy, designating a male child from babyhood to young manhood. For notes on the varying plural forms used, see m-, um-, aba-.
1. Usually in the forms mfana or umfana/(ʊ)mfana/ (plural abafana, bafana). Among isiZulu-speaking people: a young man who has gone through initiation but is not yet married. Also used (often loosely) as a form of address.
1852 C. Barter Dorp & Veld 213The Kaffir umfane (boy) when he becomes an indola (man), shaves his head and sews into the scalp a circular coronet of reeds.
1928 N. Devitt Blue Lizard 35‘Hau’ he cried in his anguish. ‘Abafana! Go and fetch the oxen.’
1937 B.J.F. Laubscher Sex, Custom & Psychopathology 10The Abafana and girls slept with the bridal couple in the honeymoon hut.
1939 N.J. Van Warmelo in A.M. Duggan-Cronin Bantu Tribes III. 32They are now young men (abafana), who will shortly look out for wives; having secured them, they become amadodana and finally, family men, amadoda.
1949 L. Hunter Afr. Dawn 37‘How old are you umfana?’ he asked. ‘I am seventeen,’ replied Mayeza.
1961 T. Matshikiza Choc. for my Wife 101The constant customers told us, ‘Hey, bafana, wash hands.’
1963 Wilson & Mafeje Langa 155The conflict was between a newly circumcised young man (ikrwala) and another young but more senior man (umfana)...The umfana reported the matter to one of the older men.
1967 J.A. Broster Red Blanket Valley 143The amakrwala were known as abafana (singular umfana) or initiated youths.
1968 M. Doyle Impala 135Men who were full umfaans and madalas.
1976 M. Tholo in C. Hermer Diary of Maria Tholo (1980) Most of the participants were quite young, about 12 to 15. They weren’t the abafana. [Source Note: Older boys, who, traditionally would have been circumcised but not yet married (Xhosa). In the city, circumcision is often delayed but the term would refer to boys in the age group 16–22.]
1979 M. Matshoba Call Me Not a Man 65I reckon you’re awed by your newly acquired fatherhood status, mfana.
1993 Sowetan 22 Jan. 8Listen here, mfana. If you want to get drunk and go wild you must go somewhere else.
2. Plural usually umfaans. Offensive. Especially in Natal (now KwaZulu-Natal): a male servant (of any age) employed in domestic service; cf. boy sense 1.
1878 H.A. Roche On Trek in Tvl 21Jim the Kafir, Sam the Coolie, or Tom the little Oomfaan, — all equally ‘Boys’.
1878 H.A. Roche On Trek in Tvl 39Your wife..if she be so lucky as to have floors at all, will make that lazy ‘Jim’ or that provoking ‘Oomfan’ clean them for her.
1911 M.S. Evans Black & White in S.E. Afr. 156The last evidence of poverty of a family in South East Africa would be the inability to employ the ubiquitous umfaan to sweep, to wash, to tend the baby.
1913 C. Pettman Africanderisms 521Umfaan, The term is applied in Natal to the Zulu boys who are employed by the Colonists to look after small children; indeed, in some parts of the ‘Garden Colony’ the word has almost become the equivalent of the English word ‘nurse’.
1968 K. McMagh Dinner of Herbs 166We..suffered a succession of umfaans..who were..as bad as Lena except for the fact that they were not allowed into the bedrooms.
1972 Beeton & Dorner in Eng. Usage in Sn Afr. Vol.3 No.1, 47Umfaan,..In Natal, a junior male servant employed to care for small children or perform general work.
1973 S. Afr. Garden & Home Sept. 58The umfaan is getting quite a lot of exercise trotting from one hose to another, and old Johannes is wandering around..searching for weeds.
1975 D.H. Strutt Clothing Fashions 349A Durban mother dressed her young African umfaan very much as as she dressed her sons.
1980 A. Paton Towards Mountain 16I have a vague recollection that you could engage an umfana, a boy, for five or ten shillings a month.
1986 M. Ramgobin Waiting to Live 22‘Umfaans’ — clothed in short pants and thick white shirts edged with red. [Source Note: Umfaans (from Zulu umfana: boy): derogatory kitchen Zulu as used by whites; umfaan = black man of any age = ‘boy’.]
3. Plural usually umfaans. A young Black boy; a youth. Cf. kwedini. Also (rarely) attributive.
1879 R.J. Atcherley Trip to Boërland 102A little Kafir boy, or umfana, may prig sugar, and a larger one may surreptitiously abstract rum if he can, but this he does not look upon as stealing.
1902 E. Hobhouse Brunt of War 241The drivers and leaders are natives, many umfaans who have never driven before.
1907 Zululand Times 18 Jan.Some cattle in charge of a small umfana were near the Inseleni River when two lions..gave chase.
1937 C. Birkby Zulu Journey 280A Pondo umfaan, a youngster who scarcely came up to my elbow.
1940 Star 21 Mar. 7Umfaans who pestered motorists to look after their cars in the streets were described as a nuisance.
1946 S. Cloete Afr. Portraits 254The men with Wilson were young, almost boys. ‘These are but boys,’ the Matabele said, ‘and if umfaans — children — can fight like this, what will we do when the bearded men come to avenge them?’
1953 P. Lanham Blanket Boy’s Moon 178He heard one umfaan newsvendor call to another.
1956 J. Chatterton Return of Drums 123Men seldom herded their cattle or took them to the dipping tank since that was the work of the umfaans.
1964 G. Campbell Old Dusty 24I awoke one morning to find that my natives, with the exception of one small umfaan, had disappeared.
1976 J. McClure Rogue Eagle 21Did the umfaans teach you to make oxen with it (sc. clay)?
1986 J. Conyngham Arrowing of Cane 46My guide, an umfaan who is apprenticed to the sangoma.
1990 Weekend Post 19 Jan. (Leisure) 3Mischievous umfaans still hunt for souvenirs.
Usually in the forms mfana or umfana/(ʊ)mfana/ (plural abafana, bafana).a young man who has gone through initiation but is not yet married. Also used (often loosely) as a form of address.
a male servant (of any age) employed in domestic service;
A young Black boy; a youth.
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