sjambok

English

Etymology

Afrikaans, from the Javanese cambuk, and as borrowed in Malay: modern Indonesian and Malay. Originally spelt in the colonial Dutch transliteration tscamboek. Term imported by VOC officials, Dutch merchants, the Maardijkers (Maluku (Moluccan) freemen and burghers); and Inlanders: Javanese and other modern Indonesian slaves and political exiles expelled to Dutch South Africa.

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈʃæmbɒk/

Noun

sjambok (plural sjamboks)

1. A stout whip, especially made of rhinoceros or hippopotamus hide.
   • 1963, Thomas Pynchon, V.:

     Foppl stood holding a sjambok or cattle whip of giraffe hide, tapping the handle against his leg in a steady, syncopated figure.

   • 1979, André Brink, A Dry White Season, Vintage 1998, p. 113:

     Several accusations had been brought in against her and every time she'd denied them she had been beaten with a sjambok.

   • 1989, United States Congress Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. Subcommittee on African Affairs, United States Policy Toward South Africa: Hearings Before the Subcommittee on African Affairs, page 333:

     If dialogue is ever to have a chance, South Africans must find a way to turn away from violence in all its forms — the brutal violence of the sjambok

   • 2006 May 13/14, Weekend Argus, page 1:

     Police arrested almost 40 locals yesterday after a crowd took part in illegal marches and refused to disperse. The locals were armed with sticks, sjamboks and other weapons.

Alternative forms

• shambok
• sambok

Related terms

• knout
• quirt
• whip
• cambuk (Indonesian)

Verb

sjambok (third-person singular simple present sjamboks, present participle sjambokking, simple past and past participle sjambokked)

1. (transitive) To whip with a sjambok; to horsewhip.

References

• 1989-1990 South Africa. Dept. of Information (Apartheid era). South Africa 1989-90: official yearbook of the Republic of South Africa: Volume 15 of South Africa. South Africa. Dept. of Information Edition 15: 1989. ISBN: 0797017291 & 9780797017290. 842 pages: 74: "bobotie, kiaal, sjambok, sosatie from Malay"

• 1983: Robert Ross. Cape of Torments: slavery and resistance in South Africa. International library of anthropology. Routledge, 1983. ISBN: 0710094078 & 9780710094070. 174 pages.

• 1978: Jean Branford: A Dictionary of South African English.

• 1971: Roy Lewis, Yvonne Foy. Painting Africa white: the human side of British colonialism. Universe Books 1971. ISBN: 0876631448 & 9780876631447. 238 pages: 24

• JKW Quarles van Ufford: 1883. Koloniale kroniek- De Economist. Springer. PDF online: [[1]]

• JKW Quarles van Ufford: 1883. Koloniale kroniek- De Economist. Springer. PDF online:

[[2]]

Anagrams

• jamboks
• Kambojs