Chokwe
/ˈtʃɒk.weɪ/noun
A Bantu-speaking people of Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Zambia, or their language.
Did you know?Chokwe artistic traditions include initiation masks and ancestral figures, but scholars have not established a reliable literal meaning for the ethnonym itself.
Etymological Timeline
Precolonial period
Cokwe
Cokwe
“The community’s indigenous name; its original lexical meaning is uncertain.”
19th Century
Portuguese
Quioco
“A Portuguese form used in colonial writing for the Chokwe people.”
19th–20th Century
Bantu studies
Cokwe
“The language name adopted in linguistic descriptions, reflecting local usage.”
20th Century
English
Chokwe
“An English spelling for the people and their Bantu language.”
Modern English
English
Chokwe
“The established name of the ethnic group, language, and associated cultural tradition.”