Nguni, n. and a.
(ŋˈguːnɪ)
[Zulu.]
A. n. A subdivision of the Bantu people which includes the Zulu-Xhosa tribes; also the languages spoken by this group, i.e. the Zulu-Xhosa-Swazi languages. B. adj. Of or pertaining to this group of peoples or languages.
| 1929 A. T. Bryant Olden Times in Zululand & Natal i. 3 The natives of South-Eastern Africa we distinguish as of three separate families, which we call respectively Ng{ruasper}ni, in Zululand, the Transvaal, Natal and the Cape; Sut{ruasper}..; and T{roasper}nga. Ibid. 5 Captured Bushwomen became common in their homes... And the children..adopted..in a Bantuized form, much of the slave-girl's speech... Hence the clicks in Ng{ruasper}ni speech. 1940 M. Gluckman in Fortes & Evans-Pritchard African Political Systems i. 29 In the earlier period of Nguni history, political allegiance tended to coincide with kinship affiliation. 1950 Radcliffe-Brown & Forde African Systems of Kinship & Marriage 58 In the Nguni tribes the personal name that a woman has in her own family, as a daughter, may not be used by her husband's family. 1957 C. G. Seligman Races of Africa (ed. 3) viii. 168 This group [sc. Eastern Southern Bantu] consists of two main subdivisions Nguni and Tsonga. The former include the Cape Nguni of the Ciskei and Transkei..together with the ‘Fingo’, fugitive remnants of tribes broken up in Natal..; the Natal Nguni, or ‘Zulu’ of Natal and Zululand, with their offshoot the Ndebele (Tebele) of Southern Rhodesia; the Swazi of Swaziland and the Eastern Transvaal; and the ‘Transvaal Ndebele’ of Central and Northern Transvaal. 1970 W. Smith Gold Mine xxxiv. 88 Basuto is also one of the fighting tribes of the N'guni group. |