Talk:Khoekhoe

30,000 years?
What's that 30,000 years about? The rest of the article doesn't mention any period of time. The off-site link talks about pottery evidence 2,000 years back. A reference to the source of this claim would be useful (unless it's speculation, in which case it should be marked as such). (Anonymous passer-by) November 9, 2005.


 * The 30,000 years is shown by the continuous record of rock-art going back 30,000 years over a wide area of Southern Africa. The most recent rock art is a couple of hundred years old. This shows a record of the (hunting) San people. The Khoikhoi (herder gatherers) are evidenced by pottery, etc. which has been found going back 2,000 years. (another Anonymous passer-by, May 2006).

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified one external link on Khoikhoi. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20050404033826/http://www.scienceinafrica.co.za/2002/august/khoi.htm to http://www.scienceinafrica.co.za/2002/august/khoi.htm

When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.

Cheers.— InternetArchiveBot  (Report bug) 22:06, 9 December 2017 (UTC)

Origin of Hottentot
The article currently states: The Dutch settlers referred to them as Hottentots (/ˈhɒtənˌtɒts/; Dutch: Hottentotten), in imitation of the sound of the click sounds that are characteristic of the Khoekhoe language.[2]. While this is an often quoted hypothesis, it is in this case directly contradicted by the external source (https://archive.org/stream/southafricanjour14sout#page/188/mode/2up). The source evaluates a number of possible origins of the term, and concludes from 17th century written reports that the original word used by the Dutch was Hottentoo (with variations in spelling), which was not of Dutch origin. Based on these reports the source suggests that the word is derived from a Khoikhoi word commonly used for greeting and during dancing. Of interest is also that an English source pre-dating the Dutch arrival in the Cape by 20-odd years already refers to the KhoiKhoi as Hottentots (with a slight spelling variation).

This is of course not to argue that the term is not derogatory to some people (although clearly not to everyone, as evidenced by the common name Hottentots Holland Mountains or Hottentots Holland High School). But I would suggest making it clear that the origin of the word is disputed, and at the very least using a source not obviously contradicting the statement. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 196.24.225.139 (talk) 11:24, 4 January 2018 (UTC)


 * Well, that's interesting. I had never looked at the source, but as you say, it explicitly says that the author considers the currently stated origin hypothesis (onomatopoeia) as the least likely of several alternatives. At the very least, basing that statement on that source is misleading. I'd suggest this would be worth some more detailed coverage in the article.. -- Elmidae (talk · contribs) 11:53, 4 January 2018 (UTC)
 * I've brought this discussion up to date with reference to the third edition of the Oxford English Dictionay. Alarichall (talk) 12:16, 18 May 2018 (UTC)

Praise address

 * The designation "Khoekhoe" is actually a kare or praise address …

Okay, and what does that mean? —Tamfang (talk) 03:56, 7 September 2019 (UTC)


 * Obviously, anyone using terms like "praise address" should say what the terms mean. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.77.163.188 (talk) 11:51, 9 March 2021 (UTC)

Requested move 26 February 2020

 * The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review after discussing it on the closer's talk page. No further edits should be made to this discussion. 

The result of the move request was: Moved. The ayes have it. OhKayeSierra (talk) 21:22, 4 March 2020 (UTC)

Khoikhoi → Khoekhoe – According to the article, the current name is obsolete. 1234qwer1234qwer4 (talk) 21:14, 26 February 2020 (UTC)
 * Support, is the spelling used by the majority of scholarly papers since 2000, also used by Britannica. – Thjarkur (talk) 23:22, 26 February 2020 (UTC)
 * Support per nom and . --Less Unless (talk) 10:14, 28 February 2020 (UTC)


 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page or in a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.

It's been written Khoikhoi for a very long time and everyone in Southern Africa knows it as such. Every museum we went to as children, all the textbooks etc. I have never seen it written Khoekhoe until I saw this. Who decided to change it to Khoekhoe and what gives them the authority? Nobody is even aware of this. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 41.13.243.73 (talk) 14:31, 5 April 2022 (UTC)

Pronunciation of name
Is the name "Khoekhoe" pronounced /ˈkɔɪkɔɪ/, the same as shown in the article Khoekhoe language? I think a pronunciation note is necessary, as it isn't obvious at all. – gpvos (talk) User:Gpvos 15:45, 27 February 2024 (UTC)