uMabhengwaneUmtoliki, umlobi, imbongi, umcwaningi nomqoqi wezakudala, eneziqu zeMasters ngeClassics, okanye esekhuluma izilimi eziyisikhombisa.
Translator, writer, poet, researcher, cook and collector of arcana, with a Masters in Classics and (so far) seven languages under my belt.
Thina sonke sivela kweny’indawo. We all come from another place. This morning, listening to uKhozi loDádò while driving to Norwood mall, it was very difficult to make out the names of the toddlers phoning in on their mothers’ phones – but when asked ‘uvela kuphi nendawo?’, their replies were crystal clear: ngaseShowe. in the area […]
This is by no means a simple word route today (not that they ever are, really) – 23 separate derivations from the original stem, which itself has over 11 subtly different meanings. The history of the word is important – it’s derived from the ur-Bantu root -lûma, meaning ‘to roar’ and ‘to allow’. For its […]
Looking at the two letters above, it’s hard to imagine how significant they are in the language of the amaZulu. You may even be thinking I’m crazy, or lost, or both. Let me show you. -lo is the meaning portion (the root) of the noun isilo, which has izilo as its plural. It has numerous […]
Dábu is an ideophone – a part of speech which in isiZulu has the rather usage-oriented name of ‘isenzukuthi’. What this means is ‘the thing that works using ukuthi’ – so-called because ideophones are used much like the English phrases ‘it goes bang‘ or ‘they always go pop like that’, where the ‘to go…’ is […]
When you listen to uKhozi FM, it’s almost immediately clear which bank/business/government department/NGO is actually connecting with their audience. The ones that use idiom. The ones that account for and celebrate the variety of their audience. The ones that connect with culture and history, as well as economic indicators and market research. Take Telkom, for […]
This morning I am torn between two word routes to follow: ukuCwiya or Dábu The first has to do with muthi killings and analysis. The second word route has to do with tearing, cracking & all metaphorical aspects thereof. Like rhegnumi in Greek. Dábu or Cwiya? Cwiya is a verb root, meaning ‘cut off small […]
Listening to Mr Magic, Linda Sibiya, this morning – he was making an appeal to people not to transport pots and packages and blankets inside the taxis, and that they should use trailers instead. He then began to describe what sort of things bring into taxis – the big pots, the blankets, squeezing in beside […]
Example from lesson with Josh – Ubungathini? I parsed this as follows: U-be-{wo-}nga-THI-ni? The root of this predicative interrogative sentence is the following: THI, an irregular verb denoting to Say, Speak or Mean. Reading the particles of the verb as it is expressed, the following is the combined meaning: You-contingent-{remote}can-SAY-what? Translated as: What would you […]
You hear a word, and something in it sticks in you. You hear it often enough, and it starts to take on a specific meaning depending on when you hear it. You grow to understand it, and even use it. But it nags at you. It begs to be investigated. So you track it down, […]
It is on Saturday that the differences seem to be most stark. Driving to Wits University for a debating tournament, I am greeted by the amaZulu understanding of Saturdays – burial and wedding announcements, imingcwabo nemishado, followed by Maskandi and Gospel on UKhozi FM. Of the four teenagers in the car, only one is anywhere […]