Damara
/dəˈmɑːrə/noun
A member of a southern African people traditionally associated with Namibia, or the language spoken by them.
Did you know?Many Damara people traditionally call themselves ǂNūkhoen, meaning “black people,” while “Damara” is an outside name whose precise linguistic origin is uncertain.
Etymological Timeline
Precolonial period
Khoekhoe languages
ǂNūkhoen
“A self-designation used by many Damara people, commonly glossed as “black people””
17th–18th Century
Dutch / Cape records
Damares / Damaras
“Early European forms used for the people later generally known as the Damara”
18th–19th Century
Nama / Colonial usage
Dama
“A form associated with the ethnonym; proposed interpretations connect it with a Khoekhoe term for “people,” but the derivation is not certain”
19th Century
English
Damara
“An established English name for the people of southwestern Africa”
19th–20th Century
English
Damaraland
“The historical colonial name for territory associated with the Damara in present-day Namibia”
Modern English
English
Damara
“The conventional English ethnonym and the name of the associated Bantu-influenced Khoekhoe language”
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