Bondelswart, noun

/ˈbɔn(d)əlswart//ˈbɔn(d)əlswɑːt/
Forms:
Bondelswaart, BondelzwaartShow more Also Bondelswaart, Bondelzwaart, Bondelzwart, Bondle Zwaart, Bondle Zwart, Bundelswaart.
Plurals:
unchanged, or Bondelswarts.
Origin:
Afrikaans, South African Dutch, DutchShow more Afrikaans, earlier South African Dutch, from Dutch bondel bundle + zwart black.
A member of a Nama people living in Namibia and Namaqualand, and originally one of the Oorlam groups (see oorlam noun sense 2); Bondel. Also attributive. See also Nama noun sense 1.
Note:
The members of this people called themselves Gami-nun or Kami-nun.
1826 R. Haddy in B. Shaw Memorials (1841) 167To-day the chief of the Bondle Zwaart,..from the Warm Bath, Great Namacqua-land, visited us.
a1838 A. Smith Jrnl (1975) 291He is commonly known by the name of Abram and his tribe is denominated Kamiquis or Bondel Zwart.
1838 J.E. Alexander Exped. into Int. I. 125Here I now found..the chief Abram, of the Bondelzwart (bundle of blacks) Namaquas.
1842 J. Tindall Jrnl (1959) 41Missionaries are wanted; not one of the above-named tribes is supplied except the Bondelswarts.
1877 Sel. Comm. Report on Mission to Damaraland 102The Bondelzwaarts’ territory has an area of 15,000 square miles,..and this estimate does not include the veldt occupied by either the Afrikaaners, or the Bastards.
1887 A.A. Anderson 25 Yrs in Waggon I. 256The inhabitants are of various tribes, called the Namaquas, Veld-scoondrawers, Bundelswaarts, Hottentots.
1922 Report of Administration on Bondelzwarts Rising (UG30–1922) 1With the close of the Rebellion against the German Government certain leaders of the Bondelzwarts were proscribed from further residence in this Territory (sc. Namibia) and betook themselves to the north-western portion of the Cape.
1928 E.H.L. Schwarz Kalahari & its Native Races 194Many half-breeds occur throughout South West Africa, the Bondelswarts, for instance. These were Oorlams, or people who had gone down to the Cape in the early days and had become contaminated with white blood.
1943 D. Reitz No Outspan 93The area we passed through is inhabited by the Bondelswart tribe of Hottentots.
1966 J.P. van S. Bruwer S.W. Afr.: Disputed Land 20There were also the Gami-nun or Bondelswarts just north of the Orange River, and the Nara-nin or Topnaars in the area of the lower Kuiseb River.
1973 J. Cope Alley Cat 80They were superstitious, though Jonkman, a Bondelswart, half white, prayed and read his Bible by the fire at night.
1982 Voice 18 July 9One German author described the Bondelzwarts as: ‘Skilful horsemen, slightly built, almost unbeatable in field duty and accurate marksmen’.
1987 B. Lau Namibia in Jonker Afrikaner’s Time 5The other brothers founded the !Kami≠nün or Bondelswarts, the ‖Haboben or Veldskoendraers,..and the ‖Khau/gôan or Swaartboois.
1990 K. Pather in Cue 5 July 2The play takes as its focus the resistance of the Bondelswarts people of Southern Namibia.
A member of a Nama people living in Namibia and Namaqualand, and originally one of the Oorlam groups (see oorlam noun sense 2); Bondel. Also attributive.
Entry Navigation

Visualise Quotations

Quotation summary

Senses

18261990

Browse Related Words

By Category

Peoples

By Origin

Afrikaans
Dutch
Bondel, nounn.Bondsman, nounn.
Copyright © 2025 Dictionary Unit for South African English