Gaika, noun

/ˈɡaɪkə/
Origin:
IsiXhosaShow more Englished pronunciation-spelling of isiXhosa Ngqika.
historical
The colonial name for the Ngqika (sense a). Also attributive.
[1800 F. Dundas in G.M. Theal Rec. of Cape Col. (1898) III. 55Mr Maynier has..been employed to strengthen and secure a good understanding with the Caffres and Boschesmen in general, and the great Caffre Nation in particular, having paid one visit to Guyka their King for that purpose.]
1844 E.L. Kift Letter. 26 Sept.We are now awaiting to hear the result of the meeting of the Gov.r with the Tambookie chiefs, after which he is to meet the Gaika chiefs — leaving the most troublesome for the last.
1845 J. Montagu Letter. (Cape Archives LG84, p.25) 12 Dec.If His Honn..should be of opinion, that the Kafir Police employed with reference to the Gaikas, should be restored to the original number of twelve, His Excellency will have no objection to it.
1846 J. Maclean in Imp. Blue Bks Command Paper 786–1847, 110He is a T’Slambi chief; how can he be a Gaika? if he wishes to be a Gaika, let him go.
1852 M.B. Hudson S. Afr. Frontier Life p.xIn 1846, the Tambookie Chief, Mapassa, joined the Gaikas in war against the English.
1871 J. McKay Reminisc. 31Strongholds were then held by Sandilli, the Gaika chief, and his allies, the Kat-river Hottentots and Cape-corps deserters.
1878 Eastern Star in J. Crwys-Williams S. Afr. Despatches (1989) 38Once at his back ten thousand men would have armed themselves to plunder and murder their hated conquerors: now not a single Gaika is near him.
1882 J. Nixon Among Boers 15I came across a number of kaffirs belonging to the Gaika tribe.
1912 Ayliff & Whiteside Hist. of Abambo 24The Gaikas, another clan of the Ama-Xosa, were great cattle plunderers.
1931 J.H. Soga Ama-Xosa 24In 1835, Sir Benjamin D’Urban, who had been fighting the Ama-Rarabe (then called Gaikas or Ama-Ngqika) carried the war across the Kei against the neutral Gcaleka or royal house of the Xhosas.
1971 J. Meintjes Sandile 1In many ways this deformity was the key to the complexity of Chief Sandile, a prince of the House of Gaika (as Ngqika was known for many decades), Paramount Chief of the Gaikas or ama-Ngqika.
1989 J. Crwys-Williams S. Afr. Despatches 34The Ninth Frontier War (commonly known as the Gaika Rebellion).
1993 Grocott’s Mail 20 July 9The novel..is to centre on the life of Sandile, Gaika paramount chief of the ama-Xhosa who were situated west of the Kei River.
The colonial name for the Ngqika (sense a). Also attributive.
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