seboko, noun
- Forms:
- Also siboko.
- Origin:
- Southern Sotho, SetswanaShow more Southern Sotho and perhaps obsolete Setswana.
obs.
Among the Sotho and Tswana peoples: a totemic name (usually that of an animal) which is common to all members of a clan or other grouping; the custom of using such a name and venerating the animal or object associated with it.
1902 G.M. Theal Beginning of S. Afr. Hist. 47The people of the interior..hold in veneration the animal that their ancestors regarded as a possible embodied spirit. Most..take their tribal names from it, thus the Bakwena are the crocodiles, the Bataung the lions, the Baphuti the little blue antelopes. Each terms the animal whose name it bears its siboko, and..will not kill it or eat its flesh..or come into contact with it in any way.
1936 Cambridge Hist. of Brit. Empire VIII. 45There was a wider system of grouping which cut across the limits of the tribes. The members of these larger groups..had a common name, the seboko, which served as a ceremonial and laudatory form of address...There were various taboos and observances, ritual songs and dances connected with the species of animal or object whose name was the seboko of a group.
a totemic name (usually that of an animal) which is common to all members of a clan or other grouping; the custom of using such a name and venerating the animal or object associated with it.
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