Nguni
/(ə)ŋˈɡuːni
/noun (plural same)
1A member of a group of peoples living mainly in southern Africa.Southern tribes include the Tsonga, the Karanga, the Chopi, the Shona, and the Nguni....
- About three-quarters of the clan groups are Nguni; the remainder are Sotho and Tsonga.
- An additional 24 African DNA samples (from the Nguni, Sotho-Tswanga, and Tsonga groups of South Africa) were provided by H. Soodyall.
2 [mass noun] The group of closely related Bantu languages, including Xhosa, Zulu, Swazi, and Ndebele, spoken by the Nguni.The population of South Africa is made up of the indigenous inhabitants who speak two major Bantu languages, Nguni and Sotho, and European settlers, consisting mainly of Dutch and English....
- Outside in the garden is a peace pole, a two-metre high cement pole with four messages on each edge, in four different languages: Nguni, English, Sotho and Chinese.
- The two guys also file their stories in vernacular, i.e. Nguni as well as in SeSotho.
adjective
Relating to the Nguni or their languages.We are supposed to sing this insulting hymn of surrender in FOUR languages - two Nguni languages, Afrikaans and English - and no other country I can think of, or any you could tell me of, has sunk so low!...
- Zambia was settled by Nguni people in flight from Zululand in 1835, but was also subject throughout much of the 19th century to Arab slave-traders.
- Black Umfolosi exemplifies the mbubu tradition of Nguni vocals and harmony sung a cappella.
Origin
From Zulu.