Update

GEORGE NEWS - This is reflected in, among others, traditional 'chiefs' appearing on the scene during the past decade who claim to have authority over certain 'clans' or 'tribes'.

According to retired school principal and former mayor of George Sydney Opperman, these tribes do not exist any more and therefore the "so-called chiefs" have no rightful claim to be in such positions of power. This is the second delivery in a series by Opperman in which he wants to shed light on the origins of the different names used for the country's indigenous nation.

According to the Khoekhoegowab dictionary compiled by Haacke and Eiseb, the Toponymica Hottentotica by Raper and Nienaber; and other research documents and speakers of the language of the Namaqua and even Damara consulted by myself in South Africa and Namibia, the word khoe or khoi means human being or person. It is the singular form of khoin or khoen which means human beings or persons.

If we add an s to the word khoi or khoe (as in khois or khoes) it means the human being or person is female. If we add the letter b to the word khoi or khoe (as in khoib or khoeb) it means the human being or person is male.

The word qua (which also means persons or people) is only used in tribal names like Attaqua (atta means marketing); Hessaqua (hessa means sacrificing) and Gauriqua (Gauri is a "deity" - "The Even-handed One"), etc.

The word !Ke in !Ke :e /xarra //ke (our country's motto) also means people, but according to the dictionary compiled by Bleek and Lloyd only in the Attaqua dialect. The name of the town Oudtshoorn is written next to the word !Ke in their dictionary. (The "!" , "/" and "//" represent clicks).

The use of the word khoi or khoe (person) as an "identity" for a people group was originally introduced by a German, Theophilus Hahn, as published in his book Tsuni //Goam the supreme being of the Khoikhoi in 1881. Anyone who accepts this nonsensical identity agrees by implication with Hahn that the people who stayed at the southern tip of Africa for thousands of years did so without knowing their identity.

Is it possible that the people (and they were people long before Hahn made his "discovery") who gave meaningful names to mountains, rivers, places and tribes did not know who they were?

Homo sapiens is the primate species to which all modern humans (persons/ khoin or khoen) belong. Sapiens comes from the Latin word sapere which means to be knowledgeable or having the ability to think!

Where in the world would you find a people group who are excited about being called, or would refer to themselves, as human beings (persons, people, khoin or khoen)? Should it not be obvious?

Some khoin/khoen may think it was an exciting "discovery" by Hahn that our forefathers were human beings (khoin/khoen). A "knowledgeable person" will frown at such a "discovery" and reject it with contempt.

In the next delivery I will discuss the San identity and following that, the Khoi-San identity.
Sydney Opperman, 14 Lynx Street, Pacaltsdorp, 6534, 083 378 4237, sydneyopperman@gmail.com.

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