Send Greetings in Zulu

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Send greetings is kho-nza in zulu.             

Sending greetings was common in old school letters before cellphones, email, FB, Twitter and Skype. 

·         mother is not well and sends greetings.

·         our sister-in-law sends greetings.

·         your primary school girlfriend sends greetings.

·         next-door uncle sends greetings.
Oops! Sorry. There are still people who write letters.  People also travelled long distance by train. There were no taxis then.  Friends and relatives saw them off at the train station and when the train started to chug away, they would shout: U-ngi-kho-nze-le ku-mfazi wam’, translated into, greet my wife.  Some would be bold enough to shout, tell her to come to the city to fetch another tummy.

 Kho-nza.  The first part is pronounced like call, the last one like panzer, a German tank during the Second World War.

ZULU
ENGLISH
U-baba u-ya-kho-nza.
Father sends greetings.
U-mama u-ya-kho-nza.
Mama sends greetings.
U-ma-khe-lwa-ne u-ya-kho-nza.
Our neighbour sends greetings.
U-ngi-kho-nze-le la-pho e-Brasov Romania.
Give my greetings to everybody in Brasov Romania.
U-ngi-kho-nze-le ku-Zakithi.
Give my greetings to Zakithi.
U-the ngi-kho-nze u-Olga.
Olga sends greetings.
U-the ngi-kho-nze u-Thomas.
Thomas sends greetings.
Ba-ya-kho-nza e-khaya.
Everybody at home sends greetings.
U-phi u-da-de-we-nu?
U-se-kha-ya.
U-ngi-kho-nze-le ku-ye-na.
Where’s your sister?
She’s at home.
Greet her for me.
The man is in love with her sister.  In the olden days, buy-in from relatives was important and could lead to the girl softening towards the suitor.
By: Nonqaba waka Msimang.

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