| rdfs:comment | - The game of Hus (also called Xoros, Ogoro, Onjune, Owela (a minor variant), Otjitoto, Wera, Thuskae, Lochspiel) is played by the Damara (Berg-Dama), Namaqua, Herero, Kanyama, Ndonga, Kwangari, Mbukushu, Shambyo and Hei||om in Namibia. It is also spelled ||hūs. The || at the beginning of the name is a click consonant found almost exclusively in Khoisan languages (also in Xhosa), which is similar to the sound which is made to hurry a horse.
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| abstract | - The game of Hus (also called Xoros, Ogoro, Onjune, Owela (a minor variant), Otjitoto, Wera, Thuskae, Lochspiel) is played by the Damara (Berg-Dama), Namaqua, Herero, Kanyama, Ndonga, Kwangari, Mbukushu, Shambyo and Hei||om in Namibia. It is also spelled ||hūs. The || at the beginning of the name is a click consonant found almost exclusively in Khoisan languages (also in Xhosa), which is similar to the sound which is made to hurry a horse. Hus was first described by the Lutheran missionary Johann Georg Krönlein (1826-1892) in 1855. The game plays an important role in the myth of the first man |Gurihoeseb. He won so many games that he eventually destroyed the paradisiac unity between nature and humanity. The game might also be associated with rain-making as it is said that the game was played with copper pearls and the thunder storm being ǂEixa|kha|nabiseb is mentioned in the same myth. Copper symbolizes lightning. It is even claimed that the name of the game is not derived from the Nama word meaning "hole", but from a today obsolete expression for "cloud".
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