kama, noun

Forms:
caama, camaShow more Also caama, cama, kaama, kamma, khaama, khama.
Origin:
Khoikhoi, Northern Sotho, SetswanaShow more Khoikhoi khama, Northern Sotho and Setswana kgama.
obs.
red hartebeest, see hartebeest noun sense b.
[1810 G. Barrington Acct of Voy. 274I must also mention an animal, the name of which is not known in the Colony, as they call it the unknown animal. The Hottentots call it kamma.]
[1824 W.J. Burchell Trav. II. 81The Hartebeest of the Cape Colony, called caama (or kaama) by the Hottentots, was considered..to be the same as..a animal of Northern Africa.]
[1846 R. Moffat Missionary Labours 89A fine large hartebeest (khama of the Bechuanas), the swiftest of the antelope species), darted close past the wagon.]
1871 J. Mackenzie Ten Yrs N. of Orange River 199In the distance we sometimes descried the shy khama (hartebeest), or the kukama (gemsbuck or oryx), fleetest of the antelopes.
1878 P. Gillmore Great Thirst Land 294Here the Macalaca shot a hartebeest, or kama.
red hartebeest, see hartebeest noun sense b.
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kalossie, nounn.kamassi, nounn.
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