GEORGE NEWS - This is another delivery in a series by Sydney Opperman in which he sheds light on the origins and names of the country's indigenous (first) nation.
It is clear that a large number of people who are in some way or another related to the Indigenous People of Southern Africa, are urged to return to the style of daily living that our ancestors had thousands of years ago.
Few of them want to acknowledge that we are in the year 2018 and are now, genetically speaking, one of the most diverse people groups in the world. We carry genes from almost all the nations in the world in our veins.
The fact that not one tribal name was sucked from the thumb by a clever man must remain foremost in our minds.
The Attaqua, for example, were 'Trading People' because 'atta' means to trade and 'qua' means people. The core of the people of the great dry land called 'Karroo' were the well-known Quena or Otentottu traders, the Attaqua.
Gauri was the 'even handed' deity and her name appears in the name of the Gauri-tz river near Mossel Bay. I hope that the people who nowadays refer to themselves as people of Gauri have heard of this deity and what she represents. The Gauriqua was one of the tribes who had a lot of cattle. Bartolomeu Dias gave the name Angra dos Vaqueiros (Bay of the Cattlemen) to the present day 'Vleesbaai' because of the thousands of cattle they saw on the surrounding hills.
The kanna (cannabis-sativa /dagga)-growing priests (surri) were called the Essaqua (Hessaqua) and were scattered among other tribes, but their home was along the Kannakamkanna (Riviersonderend).
The Outeniqua mountains near George were named after the ancient indigenous people, the Outeniqua. The name Outeniqua consists of three component words: Ou-teni-qua that describe them as 'people living in harmony with honey bees'. The bee would be the symbol of these people, not only here, but also in the ancient civilisations of India and Egypt. It carries the symbolism not only of 'Mother Earth and her energy', but also of 'divine intelligence'.
Unfortunately the above-mentioned tribes appear in the records of the present government under the nonsensical name 'Cape Khoi'.
I was amused when a few years back someone introduced himself to me in Oudtshoorn as the 'chief' of the 'Goringhaikona' (//Kurin?gai-Quena). I realised that he was not aware that the name means 'seafood collectors' (Strandlopers). 'Strandlopers' in the Little Karroo (karroo means arid) can be nothing less than a miracle!
There were many other tribes like the Griqua (Guriqua or Hariguriqua), Namaqua, Gamtobaqua, Eyniqua, Hawequa, etc.
Sydney Opperman, sydneyopperman@gmail.com, 14 Lynx Street, Pacaltsdorp, 083 378 4237
Read previous articles:
- The Otentottu and the land question
- The Otentottu identity
- The 'Khoi-San' identity
- The 'San' identity
- Our calling
- Calling of 'brown' people
- 'Brown' identity: Khoi-San a 'thumb-suck' name
'We bring you the latest George, Garden Route news'
