gabowie, noun

Origin:
Khoikhoi, KoraShow more Etymology obscure; perhaps adaptation of Khoikhoi (Kora) !gabu-s musical bow.
obs., Music
A Khoikhoi musical instrument consisting of strings stretched over a body of wood.
Note:
The construction of this instrument varied (see quotations).
1801 J. Barrow Trav. I. 98They had different instruments; one was a kind of guittar with three stings stretched over a piece of hollow wood with a long handle; it was called in their language gabowie.
1804 R. Percival Acct of Cape of G.H. 91I was highly entertained by seeing a number of Hottentots dance to an instrument played on by a young woman. It was a piece of deal board, three feet long and one broad; four or five strings of brass wire were stretched along it, and supported at each end by bridges or bits of upright wood, like those of our fiddles. In this rude sort of guitar which they called a gabowie, was inserted a piece of looking-glass...The young woman who played..kept touching the wires with a quill.
a1823 J. Ewart Jrnl (1970) 47They are fond of dancing, which they perform to a few notes extracted from an instrument something like a guitar, form’d of three strings stretched along a piece of thick bamboo. This is called a Gabowie.
1934 P.R. Kirby Musical Instruments of Native Races (1965) 252The great width of the board, as estimated by Percival, would exclude the gabowie from the guitar class.
A Khoikhoi musical instrument consisting of strings stretched over a body of wood.
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18011934

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gabba, nounn.Gaika, nounn.
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