Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The bride price paid by a prospective husband among certain peoples in southern Africa.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A present, usually of cattle, given by the bridegroom to the father of the bride, as is customary among the Zulus and other tribes of South Africa; also, the custom itself.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun South Africa The dowry paid to a bride's family to secure a wedding among certain Bantu peoples of South Africa.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Zulu -lóbólà, dowry, give a dowry.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Xhosa lobola, Zulu lobola ("pay dowry").

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Examples

  • Today, even Christian Basotho who want to be married in the church usually uphold many traditional customs, especially the payment of a bride-price, known in Sesotho as bohali, but sometimes also called lobola, from the name used by another Southern African people, the Zulu.

    No Place Left to Bury the Dead Nicole Itano 2007

  • Many South African marriages have as their foundation bride-price, or lobola, which is coming under fire from parliamentarians and jurists for discriminating against the rights of women.

    ANC Daily News Briefing 1998

  • As lobola, which is often paid in livestock, does not form the basis for a civil marriage, family law is not applicable in these marriages, but now a new law aims to improve the position of black women.

    ANC Daily News Briefing 1998

  • It seeks views on whether the bridal price, known as lobola, should be abolished 'in line with changing times and in the interest of gender equality'.

    ANC Daily News Briefing 1994

  • The Prime Minister reportedly paid a bride price, known as lobola, of $US36,000 about $35,500 and 15 cattle to his new in-laws.

    NEWS.com.au | Top Stories 2011

  • Other Zulu words are already entrenched: "lobola" (dowry),

    ANC Daily News Briefing 1996

  • Many daughters have been borne to me since, and my kraal is full of their 'lobola' cattle, but the only girl of the lot that I was ever really fond of was Nomalie -- perhaps because she was my first child.

    Kafir Stories Seven Short Stories 1899

  • Part of the idea of lobola is that the family is paying for the right to count a woman’s children as belonging to their name and lineage.

    No Place Left to Bury the Dead Nicole Itano 2007

  • The plot turns on the African custom of lobola, in which the family of a bride is compensated for her loss with a payment, traditionally cattle.

    Sollywood – South Africa's fledgling film genre 2010

  • Moseneke said that property was always held in a trust for others and in the case of lobola it would be managed for the benefit of everyone in the household.

    ANC Daily News Briefing 2008

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