Masai

American Heritage Dictionary:

Ma·sai

(mä-sī', mä'sī) pronunciation

n., pl., Masai, or -sais.

A member of a chiefly pastoral people of Kenya and parts of Tanzania.
also Maa·sai The Nilotic language of this people.

Masai Ma·sai' adj.

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Masai

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Nomadic herders of southern Kenya and northern Tanzania. They speak a language (usually called Maa) of the Nilo-Saharan family. Numbering some 900,000, the Masai subsist almost entirely on the meat, blood, and milk of their cattle herds. A kraal, consisting of a large circular thornbush fence around a ring of mud-dung houses, holds four to eight families and their herds. Polygamy is common among older men. All men are grouped into age sets. Young men traditionally live in isolation in the bush for varying lengths of time in order to develop strength, courage, and endurance. See also Nilot.

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Bible Dictionary and Concordance:

Maasai

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A priest; son of Adiel, one of those who returned from the babylonian Exile (I Chr 9:12). In the parallel verse in Nehemiah 11:13 the name appears as Amshasai son of Azriel.

Concordance
I Chr 9:12

Columbia Encyclopedia:

Masai

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Masai or Maasai (mäsī'), a largely nomadic pastoral people of E Africa, chiefly in Kenya and Tanzania. Cattle and sheep form the basis of the economy that they have maintained in resistance to cultural change. The Masai live off the milk, blood, and meat of their livestock. Masai society is patrilineal; polygyny is practiced. Boys are initiated into a warrior age-group responsible for herding, killing predators, and other tribal labors; only after serving as a warrior may a man marry. The Masai, who are characteristically tall and slender, live traditionally in the kraal, a compound within which are mud houses.

Bibliography

See A. C. Hollis, The Masai: Their Language and Folklore (1905, repr. 1971); G. Hanley, Warriors and Strangers (1971).

Rhymes:

Masai

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See words rhyming with "Masai."

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		American Heritage Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more
		Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 1994-2012 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more
		Bible Dictionary and Concordance. Illustrated Dictionary & Concordance of the Bible. Copyright © 1986 by G.G. The Jerusalem Publishing House, Ltd. All rights reserved. Read more
		Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/. Read more
		Rhymes. Oxford University Press. © 2006, 2007 All rights reserved. Read more