The Quena identity

Update

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.

Quena was the name by which the indigenous people of the Cape, and presumably most of today's South Africa and Namibia, referred to themselves before the arrival of the Portuguese and the Dutch, and up to approximately the end of the 17th century.

This important ethnonymic information was first recorded by Jan van Riebeeck, the commander of the Dutch East India Company's fort at the Cape of Good Hope, on 9 January 1653.

Both Hromnik in his article, The Ethnonym Quena: The true name of the Hottentots, and G.S. Nienaber in his book, Khoekhoense Stamname -'n Voorlopige Verkenning, refer to the specific section of the "Dagregister" in the original Dutch language as follows: "Over dit vertreck der Saldanhars Herry spreeckende, wiste ons te seggen ende bedyden, deselve nu voor 't naeste jaer niet weer te verwachten hadden, maer dat alsdan beneffens haer noch wel meer ander volck in 't lant wesende affcomen souden, ons met ons te handelen, 'twelck alsdan te ervaren staet; maer souden, als de Saldanhars (onder haer Quena genaemt) ..."

In his book Eilande, the historian Dan Sleigh uses the name "Koina". (I have personally asked him why he was using the name Koina instead of Quena. He replied that according to him, the letter "Q" was not used in the language of the indigenous people.)

It is interesting that we have a family with the surname Quena living in Pacaltsdorp. It was my dear friend Frans Quena, the pastoral minister, who introduced me to the work done by the researcher and historian Cyril Hromnik to whom I now, after more than 20 years of interaction, can refer to as my mentor.

The confirmation of the generic quality of the ethnic name Quena (i.e. why this name was used as a general name for all the indigenous people of the non-Bushman type in Southern Africa in the 17th century) can be partially ascribed to Krotoa/Eva (Elphick 1974). She translated the conversation between the commander of the Cape and "the Saldanhars" on 31 October 1657. From this (Dagregister Kopie Jaartal 1656-1658 Deel II. 31 Oktober 1657, Cape Archives vc 2 fol. 594-596) it is clear that "Quena" was the generic name for all the tribes in the south.

The following statement by John Parkington in his book Cederberg rock paintings, page 46, endorses the views on the name Quena: "The word Quena has been suggested as, probably correctly, a better self-referencing term for the collective community of herding people at the Cape in the seventeenth and early eighteenth century".

Sydney Opperman, sydneyopperman@gmail.com, 14 Lynx Street, Pacaltsdorp, 083 378 4237

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