ronko

English

Etymology

From the Limba word hu-ronko.

Noun

ronko (plural ronkos)

1. A traditional loose-fitting knee-length garment worn by chiefs, blacksmiths, warriors, and secret society officials in certain tribes of Sierra Leone, particularly the Limba, Koranko, and Yalunka, and said to protect against both natural and supernatural weapons when worn in battle.
   • 1986 June 29, Associated Press, "Secret Societies Thriving," Sunday Intelligencer (Doylestown, Pennsylvania), page A-18 [1]:

     Many campaign posters showed candidates wearing "ronkos," or rust-colored cotton vests bathed in special herbs to guard them against invisible bullets.

   • 1994, Joseph A. Opala, "'Ecstatic Renovation!': Street Art Celebrating Sierra Leone's 1992 Revolution," African Affairs 93(317), 210 [2]:

     The same mural shows a government soldier, called 'Commando Spider', dressed in a ronko, but slaying a rebel, presumably behind enemy lines.

   • 2005 February 9, "Mr Witness", testimony in Special Court for Sierra Leone Case No. SCSL-2004-14-T [3], page 14:

     Their clothes? It was ronkos and the short trousers.

   • http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=980DE2DC1E3BF932A15756C0A9669C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=2

Anagrams

• Kroon, kroon