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Glossary of Ndebele terms

20 december 2006

A few terms have escaped translation. It will be useful to explain them here:

inkobe: an Nguni dish which mixes together maize, beans or nuts or cow-beans boiled together into a soft stew.

umqombothi: a home-made beer brewed from millet, or sorghum, or finger millet. The degrees of intoxication it induces will depend on number of days of fermentation and the brewer’s skills.
iphalitsha: a thick porridge cooked out of ordinary maize meal.

uMthwakazi: term used by Mzilikazi when addressing his Ndebele nation believed to be the original form of address of the group that left Zululand in 1822.

amadlozi: the guiding spirit of a departed person, also called amathongo, abaphansi (those below), abadala (lit. the elderly).

ubuntu: a guiding philosophy of life emphasising humaneness for the Bantu people of South-Central Africa.

Sidojiwe: flats in Bulawayo built originally to accommodate single men but now used as family accommodation. In consequence they are sometimes used as a symbol or metaphor for over-crowding.

Nqindi: literally a fist: metaphor for warrior.

Zimangele: one of King Mzilikazi’s grandparents on his father’s side.
Kleke: one of the poet, Mlilo’s, nicknames.

Petula: another one of the poet, Mlilo’s, nicknames.

Mfazomithiyo: a communal area in Matabeleland South (Filabusi), its name taken from a mountain with a shape of a pregnant woman. Nkomo, the poet is using the word figuratively.

Mzilikazi Son of Matshobana: Mzilikazi Khumalo first King of the Ndebele, born of Matshobana Khumalo. He died on 16th September 1868.

sjambok: an Afrikaans word for a hide whip used by colonial police and guards for severe punishment, also sometimes used for punishing offenders.
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