makatanen.
/makəˈtɑːneɪ/, /makəˈtɑːni/, U.S. /ˌmækəˈtɑneɪ/, /ˌmækəˈtɑni/, South African English /mʌkəˈtɑːn(e)/, /mʌkəˈtɑːni/ South African. Now rare. Perhaps Obsolete.
The tsamma melon, Citrullus lanatus; its round, fleshy fruit. Chiefly in plural.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular food plant or plant product > particular fruit-tree or -plant > [noun] > tree or plant producing edible gourds > water-melon plant > types of
kaffir watermelon1812
citron1826
makatane1833
kaffir melon1835
pie melon1857
tsamma1886
1833 J. Archbell in A. Steedman Wanderings (1835) II. 35 The houses had in them the furniture and utensils usual to the country, and a few melons (makatani).
1886 G. A. Farini Through Kalahari Desert 195 A wandering tribe called Balala..gathering the large water-melons (mangatan) and Kaffir corn.
1900 S. T. Plaatje Boer War Diary (1973) 110 Some women went out in the direction of Signal Hill to gather green makatane, etc. from their fields.
c1929 L. P. Bowler Afr. Nights 110 Hitherto, Piet had been forced to subsist on makatane or kgenwe, the marvellous water-melon that grows in the arid, sandy wastes of the Kalahari Desert. Without these makatanes certain areas of the Kalahari would be impenetrable to animals or people.
c1936 S. & E. Afr. Year Bk. & Guide 528 Explorers during part of the year have to rely for drink upon the fruit of the Tsama, a species of melon..also known by the name of Makatan.
1937 Handbk. Farmers S. Afr. (S. Afr. Dept. Agric.) (new ed.) 785 Makataans, stock or kaffir melons and Tsamma are types of non-saccharine melons used for stock-feed.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, June 2000; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1833