Online Encyclopedia
Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.
HOTTENTOTS
Online EncyclopediaEncyclopedia Home :: HOR-I25
del.icio.us it!
|
HOTTENTOTS , an See also:African See also:people of western Cape See also:Colony and the adjoining See also:German territory, formerly widely spread through-out See also:South See also:Africa. The name is that given them by the See also:early Dutch settlers at the Cape, being a Dutch word of an onomatopoeic See also:kind to See also:express See also:stammering, in reference to the staccato See also:pronunciation and clicks of the native See also:language. Some early writers termed them Hodmadods or Hodmandods, and others Hot-nots and Ottentots—all corruptions of the same word. Their name for themselves was See also:Khoi-Khoin (men of men), or Quae Quae, Kwekhena, t'Kuhkeub, the forms varying according to the several dialects. Early authorities believed them to be totally distinct from all other African races. The researches of Gustav Fritsch, Dr E. T. Hamy, F. Shrubsall and others have demonstrated, however, that they are not so much a distinct or See also:independent variety of mankind as the result of a very old See also:cross between two other varieties—the See also:Bantu See also:Negro (containing a distinct Hamitic See also:element) and the Bushman. Hamy calls them simply " Bushman-Bantu See also:half-breeds," the Bushman element being seen in the leathery See also:colour, compared to that of the " sere and yellow See also:leaf " ; in the remarkably prominent cheek-bones and pointed See also:chin, giving the See also:face a peculiarly triangular shape; and lastly, in such highly specialized characters as the tablier and the See also:steatopygia of the See also:women. The See also:cranial capacity is also nearly the same (1331 C.C. in the Bushman, 1365 C.C. in the Hottentot), and on these anatomical grounds Shrubsall concludes that the two are essentially one See also:race, allowing for the undeniable See also:strain of Bantu See also:blood in the Hottentot. This view is furtherstrengthened by the vast range in prehistoric times of the Hottentot variety, which, since the See also:time of See also: Lichtenstein (1800-1804), was known to have comprised the whole of Africa south of the See also:Zambezi, and has since been extended as far See also:north as the See also:equatorial See also:lake region.
Fritsch divides the Hottentots into three bodies; the Cape Hottentots, from the Cape See also:peninsula eastward to See also:Kaffraria, the Koranna, chiefly on the right See also:bank of the See also:Orange See also:river, but also found on the Harts and the See also:Vaal, and the Namaqua in the western portion of South Africa. Of these all See also:save the last mentioned have ceased to exist in any racial purity. The name which the Namaqua give to themselves is Khoi-Khoin, and this name must be distinguished from that of the See also:Berg-Damara or Hau-Khoin, since the latter are physically of Bantu origin though they have borrowed their speech from the Hottentots. While the Namaqua preserve the racial type and speech, the other so-called Hottentots are more or less Hottentot-Dutch or Hottentot-Bantu half-breeds, mainly of debased Dutch speech, although the Koranna still here and there speak a moribund Hottentot See also:jargon flooded with Dutch and See also:English words and expressions. When the Cape Colony became a See also:part of the See also:British See also:empire the See also:protection given to the natives arrested the See also:process of extermination with which the Hottentots were then threatened, but it did not promote racial purity. See also:Sir See also: Customs and Culture.—The See also:primitive See also:character of the race having greatly changed, the best See also:information as to their See also:original See also:manners and customs is therefore to be found in the older writers. All these agree in describing the Hottentots as a See also:gentle and friendly people. They held in contempt the See also:man who could eat, drink or See also:smoke alone. They were hospitable to strangers, even to the point of impoverishing themselves. Although mentally and physically indolent, they were active in the care of their See also:cattle and, within certain limits, See also:clever hunters. They were of a See also:medium height, the females rather smaller than the men, slender but well proportioned, with small hands and feet. Their skin was of a leathery See also: Sometimes they wore sandals and carried a See also:jackal's tail fastened on a stick, which served as handkerchief and See also:fan. The women wore, besides the kaross, a little See also:apron to which were hung their ornaments; and underneath this one or two fringed girdles; and a skin cap. Both sexes smeared themselves and even their dress with an ointment made of See also:soot, See also:butter or fat, and the powdered leaves of a See also:shrub called by them bucchu (Dianna crenata). Their villages were usually on meadow grounds. They never entirely exhausted the grass but kept moving from one pasture tes another. The huts were in circles, the See also:area of which varied with the See also:pastoral See also:wealth of . the community. In the centre of the huts a hole served for a See also:fire-See also:place, and at each side of this small excavations an See also:inch or two deep were made in the ground in which both sexes, rolled up in their karosses, slept. A few earthen vessels, well-made See also:bowls of wood, See also:tortoise shells for spoons and dishes, calabashes, bamboos and skins for holding See also:milk and butter, and mats of rushes interwoven with bast, were all their See also:furniture. Their weapons were primarily bows and arrows, but they also possessed assegais, ' See See also:paper by Messrs See also:Flower and Murie in Journ. Comp Anat. and See also:Physiology (1867) ; and Fritsch, See also:Die Eingebornen Sud Afrikas (See also:Breslau, 1873). and knob-kerries. To women much respect was shown; the most sacred See also:oath a Hottentot could take was to swear by his See also:sister or See also:mother; yet the females See also:ate apart from the men and did all the See also:work of the See also:kraal with the exception of the tending of cattle and of the curing of the hides; the men, however, assisted in the erection of the framework of the huts. The usual See also:food of the Hottentots was milk, the flesh of the See also:buffalo, See also:hippopotamus, See also:antelope or other See also:game, and edible roots and bulbs or See also:wild fruits. On the See also:coast See also:fish captured by hooks and lines or spears were also eaten. Cows' milk was commonly drunk by both sexes, but ewes' milk only by the women, and when cows' milk was scarce the women were obliged to keep to ewes' milk or See also:water. Milk was drunk fresh, and not allowed to turn sour as among the Bantu. Meats were eaten either roasted or boiled, but for the most part half raw, without See also:salt, spices or See also:bread. From some meats they carefully abstained, such as See also:swine's flesh. See also:Hares and rabbits were forbidden to the men, but not to the women; the pure blood of beasts and the flesh of the See also:mole were forbidden to the women, but not to the men. In occupation they were essentially cattle-breeders, and showed See also:great skill in this pursuit, especially the Namaqua, who were capable of training the horns of their cattle so that they grew in spirals. Their social pleasures consisted in feasting, smoking, dancing and singing. Dances were held every first See also:quarter of the See also:moon and lasted all night, often for eight days in See also:succession. Every See also:signal event of See also:life, and every See also:change of See also:abode and condition was celebrated with a feast. On the formation of a new kraal an See also:arbour was constructed in the centre, and the women and See also:children adorned and perfumed it with See also:flowers and branches of trees and odoriferous herbs. The fattened ox was killed and cooked, and the men ate of it in the arbour, while the women sitting apart regaled themselves with broth. Upon such occasions the only intoxicant was tobacco or dakka. See also:Circumcision, which is common to the Kaffir tribes, was unknown to the Hottentots, but when a youth entered upon manhood a ceremony was performed. One of the elders, using a See also:knife of See also:quartz, made incisions in the See also:young man's See also:body, afterwards besprinkling them with urine. When a man killed his first See also:elephant, hippopotamus or See also:rhinoceros, similar marks were made on his body, and were regarded as insignia of See also:honour. See also:Finger See also:mutilation was common, especially among women; this consisted in the removal of one or two See also:joints of the little finger, and, sometimes, the first See also:joint of the next. The See also:reason for this is doubtful; it may have been a sign of See also:mourning, or, especially in the See also:case of children, it may have been regarded as magically protective. Marriages were by arrangement between the man and the girl's parents, the consent of the girl herself being a See also:matter of little See also:consideration. If accepted, the suitor, accompanied by all his kindred, drove two or three fat oxen to the See also:house of his See also:bride. There her relations welcomed the visitors; the oxen were slain, and the bridal feast took place. The nuptial ceremony was concluded by an See also:elder besprinkling the happy pair. Among the See also:southern Hottentots these See also:ancient usages have ceased ; but they are continued among some tribes north of the Orange river. See also:Polygamy was allowed: See also:divorce was common. See also:Family names were perpetuated in a See also:peculiar manner—the sons took the family name of the mother, the daughters that of the See also:father. The children were very respectful to their parents, by whom they were kindly and affectionately treated. Yet the aged father or mother was sometimes put in the See also:bush and See also:left to die. Namaqua says this was done by very poor people if they had no food for their parents. But even when there was food enough, aged persons, especially women, who were believed to be possessed of the evil spirit, were so treated. The Hottentots had few musical See also:instruments. One named the " gorah " was formed by stretching a piece of the See also:twisted entrails of a See also:sheep from end to end of a thin hollow stick about 3 ft. in length in the manner of a See also:bow and See also:string. At one end there was a piece of See also:quill fixed into the stick, to which the mouth of the player was applied. The " rommel-pot " was a kind of See also:drum shaped like a bowl and containing water to keep the membrane moist. Reeds several feet See also:long were used as flutes. See also:Government and See also:Laws.—The See also:system of government was patriarchal. Each tribe had its hereditary " khu-khoi " or " See also:gao-ao " or See also:chief, and each kraal its See also:captain. These met in See also:council whenever any great matters had to be decided. The See also:post was honorary, and the councillors were held in great reverence, and were installed in See also:office with solemnities and feasting. In certain tribes the See also:hind part of every See also:bullock slaughtered was sent to the chief, and this he distributed among the males of the See also:village. He also collected sufficient milk at the See also:door of his hut to See also:deal out amongst the poor. A part of every See also:animal taken in See also:hunting was exacted by the chief, even though it was in a See also:state of putrefaction when brought to him. The captains, assisted by the men of each kraal, settled disputes regarding See also:property and tried criminals. A murderer was beaten or stoned to See also:death; but if one escaped and was at large for a whole year, he was allowed to go unpunished. See also:Adultery seldom occurred; if any one found parties in the See also:act and killed them he was no murderer, but on the contrary received praise for his See also:deed. Women found offending were burnt. See also:Theft, especially cattle-stealing, was severely punished. The thief was See also:bound See also:hand and See also:foot, and left on the ground without food for a long time; then, if his offence was slight, he received some blows with a stick, but if the case wasan aggravated one, he was severely beaten, and then unloosed and banished from the kraal. The family of even the worst criminal suffered nothing on his See also:account in reputation, See also:privilege or property. The See also:duel was an institution. If any one was insulted he challenged his enemy by offering him a handful of See also:earth. If the latter seized the hand and the dust See also:fell to the ground, the See also:challenge was accepted. If it was not accepted, the challenger threw the dust in his foe's face. The duel took place by kicking, with clubs, or with the See also:spear and See also:shield.
Religious Ideas.—The religious ideas of the Hottentots were very obscure. See also:Francois le Valliant says they had " neither priests nor temples, nor idols, nor ceremonials, nor any traces of the notion of a deity." Other authorities state that they believed in a benevolent deity or " Great Captain," whom they named Tik-guoa (Tsu-goab). There were other " captains " of less See also:power, and a black captain named Gauna, the spirit of evil. The moon was a secondary divinity, supposed to govern the See also:weather; and its See also:appearance each See also:month was hailed with dancing and singing.' See also:George See also:Schmidt, the first missionary to the Hottentots, says they also celebrated the See also:annual appearance of the See also:Pleiades above the eastern See also:horizon. As soon as the See also:constellation appeared, all the mothers ascended the nearest See also: An old Namaqua was once heard to say " The stars are the souls of the deceased,' and a Hottentot See also:form of imprecation is " See also:Thou happy one, may misfortune fall on thee from the See also:star of my grandfather."
Such as it was, the Hottentot See also:religion was largely ancestor-worship. Their deified See also:hero was named Heitsi-Eibib; and of him endless stories are told. The one most generally accepted is that he was a notable See also:warrior of great See also:physical strength, who once ruled the Khoi-Khoin, and that in a desperate struggle with one of his enemies, whom he finally overcame, he received a See also:wound in the See also:knee, from which event he got the name of " Wounded knee." He had extra-See also:ordinary See also:powers during life, and after death he continued to be invoked as one who could still relieve and protect. According to the tradition preserved among the Namaqua, Heitsi-Eibib came from the See also:east. Therefore they make the doors of their huts towards the east, and those who possess waggons and carts put their vehicles alongside the See also:mat-house with the front turned towards the east. All the See also:graves are in true See also:west-easterly direction, so that the face of the deceased locks towards the east. The spirit of Heitsi-Eibib is supposed to exist in the old See also:burial places, and, whenever a See also:heathen Hottentot passes them, he throws stones on the spot as an offering, at the same time invoking the spirit's blessing and protection. Johann Georg von See also:Hahn asserts that there are many proofs which justify the conclusion that Heitsi-Eibib and Tsu-goab (the supreme being) were identical. Both were benevolent. Both were believed to have died and risen again. They killed the See also:bad beings and restored See also:peace on earth ; they promised men See also:immortality, understood the secrets of nature, and could foretell the future?
Various ceremonies were practised to See also: If a Khoi-Khoi went out hunting his wife kindled a fire, and assiduously watched by it to keep it alive; if the fire should be extinguished her See also:husband would not be lucky. If she did not make a fire, she went to the water and kept on throwing it about on the ground, believing that thereby her husband would be successful in getting game. Charms, consisting of bones, burnt wood, and roots of particular shrubs cut into small pieces, were generally worn round the See also:neck. There was also a belief that in every See also:fountain there was a snake, and that as long as the snake remained there water would continue to flow, but that if the snake was killed or left the fountain it would cease. Offerings were sometimes made to the spirit of the fountain. In common with the See also:Bushmen, the Hottentots venerated the See also:mantis fausta, a See also:local variety of the See also:insect known as " the praying mantis " (mantis religiosa). P. See also:Kolbe saw sacrifices made in its honour when it appeared inside a kraal; to kill it was strictly forbidden. The Hottentots had great faith in See also:witch-doctors, or sorcerers. When called to a sick-See also:bed these ordered the patient to See also:lie on his back, and then pinched, cuffed, and See also:beat him all over until they expelled the illness. After that they produced a See also:bone, small snake, See also:frog or other See also:object which they pretended to have extracted from the patient's body. If the treatment did not succeed, the See also:person was declared incurably bewitched. If death occurred, the See also:corpse was interred on the See also:day of decease. It was wrapt in skins, and placed in the ground in the same position it once occupied in-the mother's womb. Death was generally regarded in a very stoical manner. Language.—The existence of a fundamental connexion between the language of the Hottentot and that of the Bushman was ' An interesting See also:notice of this form of worship occurs in the See also:journal of an expedition which the Dutch See also:governor, Ryk See also:van Tulbagh, sent to the Great Namaqua in 1752, which reached as far as the Kamob or See also:Lion river (about 27° S. See also:lat.). 2 On the religion and antiquities see See also:Theophilus Hahn's papers, " Graves of the Heitsi-Eibib," in Cape Monthly See also:Magazine (1879). and " Der hottentottische Zai-goab and der griechische See also:Zeus," in Zeitschr. See also:fur Geogr. (See also:Berlin, 1870). suggested by Dr See also:Bleek and is supported by further See also:evidence advanced by See also:Bertin. The Hottentot language was regarded by the early travellers and colonists as an uncouth and barbarous See also:tongue. The Portuguese called the native manner of speaking stammering; and the Dutch compared it to the " gobbling of a See also:turkey-See also:cock." These phonetic characteristics arose from the common use of " clicks,"—sounds produced by applying the tongue to the See also:teeth or to various parts of the gums or roof of the mouth, and suddenly jerking it back. Three-fourths of the syllabic elements of the language begin with these clicks, and combined with them are several hard and deep gutturals and nasal accompaniments. The difficulty a See also:European has in acquiring an accurate pronunciation is not so much in producing the clicking See also:sound singly as in following it immediately with another See also:letter or syllable. The four recognized clicks, with the symbols generally adopted to denote them, are as follows: dental = ; palatal = n; lateral = II ; cerebral = !. According to Tindall, one of the best grammarians of the language, the dental click (similar to a sound of surprise or indignation) is produced by pressing the See also:top of the tongue against the upper front teeth, and then suddenly and forcibly withdrawing it. The palatal click (like the crack of a See also:whip) is produced by pressing the tongue with as flat a See also:surface as possible against the termination of the See also:palate at the gums, so that the top of the tongue touches the upper front teeth and the back of the tongue lies towards the palate, and then forcibly withdrawing the tongue. The cerebral click (compared to the popping of the See also:cork of a See also:bottle of See also:champagne) is produced by See also:curling up the tip of the tongue against the roof of the palate, and withdrawing it suddenly and forcibly. The lateral click (similar to the sound used in stimulating a See also:horse to See also:action) is articulated by covering with the tongue the whole of the palate and producing the sound as far back as possible; Europeans imitate it by placing the tongue against the side teeth and then withdrawing it. The easiest Hottentot clicks, the dental and cerebral, have been adopted by the See also:Kaffirs; and it is a striking circumstance, in evidence of the past Hottentot influence upon the Kaffir See also:languages, that the clicking decreases amongst these tribes almost in proportion to their distance from the former Hottentot domain. The language in its grammatical structure is beautiful and See also:regular. Dr Bleek describes it as having the distinctive features of the suffix-pronominal See also:order or higher form of languages, in which the pronouns are identical with and borrowed from the derivative suffixes of the nouns. The words are mostly monosyllables, always ending, with two exceptions, in a vowel or nasal sound. Among the consonants neither 1, nor f nor v is found. There are two g's, g hard and g guttural, and a deeper guttural kh. Diphthongs abound. There is no See also:article, but the definite or indefinite sense of a noun is determined by the gender. In the fullest known See also:dialect (that spoken by the Namaqua) nouns are formed with eight different suffixes, which in nouns designating persons distinguish masc. sing. (-b), masc. plur. (-ku), masc. dual (kha), fem. sing. (-s), fem. plur. (-ti), com. sing. (-i), com. plur. (-u), com. dual (-ra). The See also:adjective is either prefixed to a noun or referred to it by a suffixed pronoun. This grammatical See also:division of the nouns according to gender led to the classification of the language as " set-denoting," thus suggesting its relationship, in original structure, with the Galla and others. There are four dialectical varieties of the language, each with well-marked characteristics: the Nama dialect, spoken by the Namaqua as well as by the Hau-Khoin or Hill Damara; the See also:Kora dialect, spoken by the Koranna, or Koraqua, dwelling about the See also:middle and upper part of the Orange, Vaal and Modder See also:rivers; the Eastern dialect, spoken by the Gona or Gonaqua on the See also:borders of Kaffirland; and the Cape dialect, now no longer spoken but preserved in the records of early voyagers and settlers. Of the Nama dialect there are three grammars: Wallmann's (1857) and Hahn's in German, and Tindall's (1871) in English, the last being the best; and the four Gospels, with a large amount of missionary literature, have been published in it. The vocabulary is not limited merely to the expression of the See also:rude conceptions that are characteristic of primitive races. It possesses such words as koi, human being; khoi-si, kindly or friendly; koi-si-b, philanthropist; khoi-si-s, humanity; # ei, to think;
ei-s, thought; amo, eternal; amo-si-b, eternity; tsa, to feel; tsa-b, feeling, sentiment; tsa-kha, to condole; ama, true; ama-b, the truth; See also:anu, sacred; anu-si-b, holiness; esa, See also:pretty; anu-xa, full of beauty.
Literature and See also:History.—Much traditionary literature—fables, myths and legends—existed amongst the Hottentots,—a fact first made known by Sir See also: Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML. Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide. |
|
|
[back] HOTMAN, FRANCOIS (1524-1590) |
[next] HOTTINGER, JOHANN HEINRICH (162o–1667) |