Africa's Baobab tree: Why monkey names?

11 Pages·1994·6.6 MB·English

by  John Rashford

——
Ethnobiol 14(2):173-183
Winter 1994
/.
BAOBAB
AFRICA'S TREE
WHY
MONKEY
NAMES?
JOHN RASHFORD
Department Sociology and Anthropology
of
College Charleston
of
SC
29424
Charleston,
ABSTRACT. common
Monkey bread and monkey tamarind are two of the names
that appear in published accounts of Africa's well-known baobab tree {Adansonia
digitata These monkey names are generally assumed to be derived from the
L.).
simple fact that monkeys eat the baobab's fruit. Although this literal interpreta-
seems
tion obvious, neither the only one, nor necessarily the correct one.
is
it is it
common
monkey compound names
In the Caribbean, the use of in the for the
baobab and The name monkey tamarind, exam-
other plants implies imitation. for
ple, indicates that the baobab is like the tamarind tree {Tamarindus indica L.). It
mimics the tamarind just as a monkey does a human. This is consistent with what
we
find in other parts of the world where the baobab is also identified as a kind of
name
tamarind, though without the monkey.
RESUMEN. nombres comunes
Pan de mono y tamarindo de mono son dos de los
Uamado
que aparecen en publicaciones acerca del conocido arbol africano
las
que
baobab Generalmente da por sentado estos
(Adansonia se
digitata
L.).
monos comen
nombres de mono se derivan del simple hecho que los el fruto del
no
baobab. Si bien esta interpretacion literal parece obvia, es la linica ni es
mono nombres com-
En uso de en
necesariamente Caribe, los
la correcta. el el
nombre tamarindo
puestos del baobab y de otras plantas implica la imitacion. EI
como de tamarindo
de mono, que baobab arbol
por ejemplo, indica es el
el
como mono remeda un
{Tamarindus Simula tamarindo tanto el a
indica al
L.).
mundo
humano. con que encontramos en otras partes del
Esto es consistente lo
aunque
donde como un de tamarindo, sin
baobab tambien tipo
se identifica
al le
nombre
de mono.
el
RtSUMR— noms com-
deux des plus
Monkey monkey tamarind sont les
bread
et
muns qui apparaissent dans publications sur Tarbre d'Afrique bien connu, le
les
baobab Ces noms de monkey sont generalement pretendus
{Adansonia
digitata
L.).
mange du baobab. Bien que cette
etre derives du simple que singe le fruit
fait le
necessairement
interpretation semble evidente, ce n'est ni la seule, ni la
litterale
comme nom com-
Aux du monkey courant
plus Caraibes Tutilisation
acceptable.
d
imphaue notion unitation
la
sun
mimi
que nous trouvons dans d'autres parties
un
singe humain. en accord avec ce
C'est
baobab egalement
du monde bien que nom monkey ne soit pas utilise, le est
le
oii,
comme
une de tamarind.
identifie espece
RASHFORD
Vol. No. 2
14,
174
INTRODUCTION
Why monkey names? While
baobab have
does
Africa's tree
assumed
m
more
meanm
ble
common
compound names
we
Put
as well. simDlv,
lei
5 —
—
name monkev resemblance the
bears a resemblance often a "ridiculous" to
is
common name
compound
monkeys
monkey tamarind Caribbean not because eat
in the
t
tamarind
the fruit verv similar in taste to that of the true
>e is
meaning
monkev names
member defined
The African baobab the most prominent of the small, well
is
Mad-
tropical genus Adansonia, of which there are an additional seven species in
most
agascar and one Australia (Wickens one of the continent's
in 1982).
It is
which seems
unusual readily distinguished by huge bulging trunk,
trees,
its
strangely disproportionate the moderate height and thick, rapidly taper-
to tree's
ing branches (Fig. 1-3). The baobab's size testifies to remarkable abiUty to store
its
making
human now grows worldwide,
Because
of dispersal, the tree
)74).
human
common
managed
more the
in the intensively areas of
environment
including roadsides, public grounds, religious pi
home
and Wickens
parks, gardens, botanic gardens (Vaid
1978;
(Fig
1987, 1991)
4, 5).
THE COMMON-SENSE EXPLANATION FOR
NAME MONKEY
THE BREAD
common
monkey
While bread one most reported
of the baobab's frequently
is
many an expla-
names, appearing in dictionaries, only a few authors have offered
nation for origin and meaning.^ These authors favor the explanation that
its
seems monkey monkeys
self-evident: the tree called bread because eat its fruit.
is
Owen
some that
In example, reports
cases this is stated explicitly. (1974:90-91), for
name
"The monkeys, baboons, relishing
... related to the habit of particularly
is
the fruit which they either pluck from the tree or pick up from the ground/'
commonly known monkey bread,
Dellatola "The baobab
(1983:27) states, as
fruit,
is a favorite food of baboons, hence the name/' Robyns (1980:68) takes a similar
by "monkeys English
position noting, very fond hence the
are of the capsules,
Monkey
vernacular name. Bread
Tree/'
The association between the baobab's common names and primate fruit con-
sumption
Random
implicit in other sources. In The House Dictionary (1968:862),
is
monkey
for example, bread defined as "the gourd-like of the baobab, eaten
is fruit
by monkeys," and name New
the for "the tree Funk and Wagnalls ''Standard
itself/'
Dictionary (1958:1602) provides a similar definition. Monkey bread refers to "the
baobab or and by man by monkeys/'
tree, its fruits" the fruit "is eaten as well as
3
b
a
O
G
Z
>
O
•it^
-^^^^^^w
.ft4^
z
o
00
O
O
3
—
^
FIG. 2. Baobab at the Convent of Mercy Academy (Alpha) Girls School in Kingston, Jamaica;
1,
—
A
FIG. 3. comparison of the fruits of the baobab (a) and tamarind (b).
RASHFORD
176 Vol. No. 2
14,
—
A
FIG. baobab stump
4. live not from Parham,
far
Antigua.
Two
FIG. 5.—
on
fallen trees the grounds of the Univer-
sity of Florida's Research and Home-
Education
Center
in
stead, FL.
According
to Porteous //
cucum
(1928:235), mbling
a
1
• J¥
. .
monkeys,
the being sometimes
tree
Monkey-
mo
implicitly or
explicitlv link
common
name.
may
Yet, this explanation not be
the only one, nor necessarily
is
it
the correct one. The
alternative more
paper
explanation
this
monkey
names
name
discussed
is in relationship to the
monkey
tamarind
which
JOURNAL
OF ETHNOBIOLOGY
Winter
1994
177
MONKEY TAMARIND—
A NAME
CARIBBEAN
have been mapping
the Caribbean baobab
I distribution of the over the past
seven years to learn something about its history and cultural significance in the
region. In Jamaica, there are five trees in Kingston, the island's capital, and there
more
are reliable reports of three in the parish of Elizabeth. Published accounts
St.
(Macfadyen Rock was more
1850; 1861) suggest that the tree plentiful in the past,
but is generally agreed that was never common. One of the oldest and most
it it
impressive of the trees in Kingston grows at the Convent of Mercy Academy, also
m
known
Alpha cm
as Girls School. Measured at from the ground, 2.26 in
7.6 it is
was
circumference. In 1986 Sister Mill Delores said the tree already "as big as
is
it
now" when
came
she to Jamaica from Malta in 1913 to teach at Alpha, and that at
was monkey Hawkes
that time also called tamarind In 1970 Alex visited
tree.
it
this tree and wrote about in his widely-read newspaper column in the Jamaica
it
He
huge
Daily Gleaner. described as "an absolutely magnificent tree" noting that
it
known
by monkey Hawkes was
it "is the students fondly as tamarind." says this
among
his encounter with name, which in use the students today.
first this
is still
Academy
In 1977 Alpha newspaper,
in the edition of Hibiscus, the a student,
first
Vanessa Soarez, wrote an "Monkey Tamarind Tree" (1977) in which
article titled
she and
offered a description of the tree her impressions of significance to
its
Alpha
"every
girl."
The name "monkey tamarind" seems be of Caribbean origin. has been
to
It
Van
reported Bahamas and Dominica (Gerth Wijk
in Jamaica, the (Ives 1880:84),
Monkey among common names men-
1971:25). tamarind not the frequently
is
who
tioned in the literature, however. In fact most authors have written about this
monkey
species in Jamaica only the names baobab, Ethiopian sour gourd, or
cite
bread (Edwards Lunan Macfadyen 1850:89; Morris 1884:19;
1794:195; 1814:46;
monkey
Adams name monkey tam-
Harris Unlike the bread,
1912:160; 1972:479).
arind does not appear any of the standard English dictionaries.
in
One name monkey tamarind Baillon (1876-
of the references to the is
earliest
Rock
by Gerth Van Wijk Another reference (1861:347),
1892), cited (1971:4). is
whose discussion of the baobab suggests this name came to his attention from a
baobab
Caribbean source. The inference based on the fact that he regarded the
is
was
notmg although not
as "indigenous to Africa and the West Indies," that it
employed
conmion pulp and rind or shell of the fruit are medici-
in Jamaica, "the
markets
nally," and that "the nuts are occasionally exposed for sale in the at
Kingston and elsewhere" (Rock 1861:349).
Another name monkey tamarind that also associ-
the
interesting reference to
Bahamas he
the that
ates with Jamaica Ives (1880). Ives describes a tree in
it is
mon-
was "sometimes"
and called
identified as Jamaican tamarind noted that
it
names
key name, the vernacular
tamarind. Although Ives did not offer a scientific
—probably
baobab
and as a
description he used 1880:83-85) identify the tree
(Ives
name
by Jamaican
introduced Bahamas from Jamaica as suggested the
to the
tamarind.
RASHFORD
Vol. No. 2
14,
178
MONKEY NAMES
THE MEANING OF IN THE CARIBBEAN
monkey many compound
meaning
In Jamaican culture, the true of in the
common by
names and recognized Cassidy
for plants other things clearly
is
from
(1971:382) in his discussion of Morinda L. This a small exotic tree
citrifolia is
now
tropical Asia and the Pacific, extensively naturalized in the wet, coastal areas
Mary
and
of Jamaica, especially in the northeastern parishes of Portland St.
and
(Morton 1992). In the Virgin Islands, Morinda citrifolia L. is called painkiller
known
monkey
apple According Cassidy in
(Vails 1981:82). to (1971:382), is
it
monkey
duck hog and
Jamaica as bluuda, apple, berry, pig's apple, berry. In the
where
eastern part of the parish of Portland did field research, the tree is
I
commonly hog jumbie
called apple although occasionally identified as
is
it
and duppy name monkey
chocho, less frequently as chocho. In explaining the
berry, Cassidy (1971:382) points out that "monkey does not refer to actual animals
but
eating the fruit but suggests that this something like the proper plant
is
. —. . . . .
man
good way monkey
not really imitates in a ridiculous as a [does] a
it
it
(compare monkey and other monkey names)/' have followed Cassidy's
fiddle
I
interpretation and found that in Jamaica this principle seems to hold true for all
plants with monkey names. In addition monkey berry and monkey fiddle
to
monkey
(Pedilanthus tithymaloides includes breadfruit {Artocarpus
(L.) Poit.), this
monkey comb and
atilis (S, Parkinson) Fosberg), {Pithecoctenium echinatnm Jacq.)
monkey
apple
(Clusia
flava
Jacq.).^
In Jamaica, the notion that the word monkey implies imitation holds true not
only but
for plants, for other things as For example, grated coconut boiled in
well.
when
sugar where
(to the point almost begins burn) becomes hard cools,
to
it it
—
making
difficult to chew. This candy called monkey iron something imitat-
it is
monkey
ing or resembling true iron. The same principle implied when the word
is
used
is to describe a person's behavior, appearance, or expressions. To say
facial
someone monkey
has To
a face is to say that, like a monkey, he or she is ugly.
— —
make monkey
make
faces is to ugly faces faces like those of monkeys that are
meant
poke
to fun, ridicule, insult, or humor. Cassidy and LePage (1967:304)
Monkey
report name
that Jesus is a used in Kingston to describe an ugly person.
—
A
example monkey
clear of the association of with what Jamaicans
imitation
fashion"—
"follow
call is evident in Jamaican proverbs that point to the potential
for disaster in mimicking or "aping" others (Anderson and Cundall 1972:867):
monkey
Follow-fashion break
neck
Monkey
him
follow-fashion
cut throat
mek
monkey
Follow-fashion him
lose
tail.
The monkey
use names
of imply hold
to imitation or resemblance seems to
Jamaica
examj
"monkey grimace
)r
face, for a
Jamaica
possible
that the survival of this expression more widespread than Cas
is
suggests, for has been
also reported
it for the Virgin Islands (Vails 1981:82).
There monkey names
are
when
for plants in other parts of the Caribbean
meaning imphed
seems
be same
to the
as in Jamaica. In the Virgin Islands
JOURNAL OF ETHNOBIOLOGY
Winter
1994
179
example. Mimosa
Vails (1981:82) says the vine unguis-cati L. called cat-law, cat's
is
and monkey Monkey
paw,
claw, cat's earring. earring obviously a reference to
is
the rounded shape of the pea pod which bears a "ridiculous resemblance" true
to
Barbados
earrings. In the small herbaceous plant Ruellia tuberosa L. called
is
monkey gun and Gooding known duppy
(Robertson 1970:230). In Jamaica as
is
it
pop
gun. In both cases the plant receives specific epithet from explosive
4 its its
—
gun sound
fruit imitates or resembles a real in the produces. Similarly,
it it
mushrooms monkey and duppy
are called umbrellas in Barbados umbrellas in
—
mimic and Gooding
Jamaica they umbrellas (Robertson
real 1970:230),
Another good example monkey names sandbox Hura
of for plants is the tree,
m
crepitans L., which grows up to 3.7 in height with a relatively dense, spreading
crown. This impressive tree of the Caribbean and other parts of tropical America
known and monkey and
is also as Jumbie dinner bell dinner bell, Vails (1981:82)
name monkey monkey gun
reports the the Virgin Islands. Like the
pistol for
by means an
(Ruellia tuberosa the sandbox tree disperses seeds of explosive
L.), its
name monkey
pod, hence the dinner names and the pistol. Rampini's
bell
with sandbox while
(1873:157-158) incidental account of his experience a tree
pod and
between exploding
traveling in Jamaica suggests that the association the
was
a pistol shot recognized in the nineteenth century:
As we
[Rampini and coachmanl were driving along the sea-shore, just
his
we
before entering the bustling town of Black River, met one of the
little
//
old-fashioned
"kittereens,
J
we Cornwall
known, some
outlandish in
believe, in districts
. .
As we nut
were wondering old-world turn-out, the
this c
at
bag expanded with the heat, burst with a loud explosion.
tree,
jumping from driving box.
'Warra!' cried Bob, nearly his
kill
common
interpretation explain the origin of the
in his effort to
;
—
where
name monkey he (and they occur.
dinner "Poultry," writes,
bell tree.
On
presumably monkeys) rush eagerly find the seeds. the continent, this action
to
A
Monkey
name Dinner similar
of the pod reason the of Bell."
the for tree's
is
New
explanation Funk and Wagnalls "Standard" Dictionary (1958:
offered in the
is
made
by
monkey because "the loud noise the
1602): the dinner bell
tree called
is
monkeys
understood by the as a signal that a
ipe
is
fresh supply of food ready. //
is
m
was by Reverend Scholes
presented
attempt an explanation
at J.
aUuded
(Abrahams and Szwed "Whether the noisy habit to,
1983:157):
many
and monkey dinner, in the shape of the button-like
es the to
calls
summons
Monkey
Master
to attend to his
explanations offered
any other
of the
Scholes's or
monkey names
—
dinner
much more
equally even
possible likel)
many
and by
made the
the noise bv the exploding fruit,
very In
this
this tall tree.
RASHFORD
No. 2
Vol.
180 14,
some
monkev as the eeneric term simply means imitative of, or bearing resem-
—
blance the thing a noisy dinner-belL
to real
A TAMARIND
THE BAOBAB AS KIND OF
Thvs, the name monkey tamarind us that the baobab a kind of tam-
tells is
how
arind, but what the tamarind and the baobab related to it? The real
is is
I
leguminous
tamarind, Tamarindus indica a large, evergreen, tree of Africa
L., is
—
now
some widespread throughout Because
say India that the tropics. is
is it
common human
usually a tree in the environment, the tamarind serves as a point
name
tamarind.
of reference for identifying other plants that are also given the
The and
majority of these the tamarind, leguminous shrubs trees that
are, like
have The baobab one
leaves, flowers, or fruits that resemble the true tamarind. is
very noticeable exception since bears no resemblance to the true tamarind in
it
What
leaves, flowers, or physiognomy. the baobab shares with the true
fruits,
tamarind
is that its fruit is similar in taste.
many
The baobab has uses and the one of the most valuable parts of
fruit
is
the The value when we most
tree. of the fruit evident consider that the fre-
is
—
common
quently cited English names baobab,^ Ethiopian sour gourd, sour
—
gourd tree, cream of tartar and monkey bread are in reference to the
tree,
all
The names
fruit. Ethiopian sour eourd, sour eourd and cream of tartar tree
tree,
most im
Palmer and Pitman no // wlhen becomes
(1961:231) drv.
. . .
and mixed with water makes
ery,
names //
and
'cream-of-tartar 'lemonade
tree'
tamarind
growmg
7)
Owen
indehiscent fruits that ripen in the winter
These and
fruits contain hard, dry seeds surrounded by an pulp, the
edible acidic
make
tamarind,
like that of the baobab, also used to
is
drink.
common
similar use of baobab and tamarind many
evident
fruits in
is
names
baobab
for the that include the term tamarind. Varmah
—
known tam
as exotic
Vilaiti imli
some
cases these generic terms seem
We
have
already seen references to the baobab as Jamaican Tamarind. Rock
name
(1861:347) reports the African tamarind, and baobab
in Croix, the is
St.
known
Guinea
as tamarind one many names
In India, of the khurasani
.^ tree's is
imli—khurasani
tamarind. According Burton-Page "The epithet
to
(1969:332),
Khurasani unknown more
is fanciful, for the tree in Khurasan; seems be no
is to
it
than an word
elegant meaning
'foreign,' as in American doth, Russian salad."
Specific terms can be
also related to individuals as in India where the baobab also
zmh—
called Gorak Gorak's tamarind— whom
is Burton-Page
Goraksanatha,
after
(1969:332) described
as "the patron saint of an order of The meaning of the
yogis."
name
monkey
tamarind
is consistent with the above. The term monkey
specific
us baobab
tells that the
fruit imitates the Monkey serves
taste of the tamarind.
real
JOURNAL OF ETHNOBIOLOGY
Winter 1994
181
FIG. 6.—Tamarind seedlings the root of the baobab at Alpha Girls School in
at
7—
Kingston; FIG. Tamarind and baobab growing side by side in St. Croix.
many
terms distinguishes
that
specific
tamarinds
SUMMARY
monkey names
two
seems self-evident that the baobab's
mi
monkey Caribbean context suggests
The meaning tamarind the
in
of
ially so.
monkey
tamarind
monkey baobab,
names imply In the case of the
imitation.
not monkevs eatine the but to the simple fact that the fruit is similar
s to fruit,
tamarind
mo
name
bread? There are three possible
)bab's fruit be said to imitate "real"
creamy pulp resembles
white or acidic
could be argued that the
same
name baobab has the signifi-
the fruit
also could indicate that
cance monkeys bread does humaness-—it their "staff of life." In the final
to as to is
from
name monkey bread does derive pri
analysis, might well be that the
it
monkey
use of
the
consumption and unrelated to
of the fruit, that it is
u
however, that the
name monkey
generic term tamarind. believe,
in the I
monkey constru
monkey name bread similar in
as a generic term in the is
name monkey tama
and meaning what has already been said about the
to
monkey English lang
In an examination of the meaning of in the
fact,
ways
argument made
RASHFORD
No. 2
Vol.
14,
182
NOTES
—
monkey
^n two monkey names baobab monkey bread and tama-
the of the
actuality,
—
monkey monkeybread, monkey-
rind have been presented in a variety of ways: bread,
mon-
bread, monkey bread monkey's bread, monkey's bread tree, monkeys-bread,
tree,
monkey monkey monkey monkey
keys bread bread bread bread-fruit,
nut, fruit,
tree,
monkey tamarind, and monkey tamarind
bread-fruit tree, tree.
Clarendon
2The dictionaries consulted are: The Oxford English Dictionary (1961, 1989),
New
Language
Oxford. Webster's Third International Dictionary of the English
Press,
& New
MA.
Merriam Funk and Wagnalls "Standard" Dictio-
G. C. Co., Springfield,
(1981),
New
New
nary of the English Language Funk and Wagnalls Company, York.
(1958),
Riverside University Dictionary The Riverside Publishing Company, Chicago, IL.
(1984),
The Universal Dictionary of the English Language Routledge and Kegan Paul, Ltd.
(1961),
New
Random Random
The House Language House,
Dictionary of the English
(1968),
The American Language American Heri-
York. Heritage Dictionary of the English
(1971),
New
tage Publishing York.
Co.,
^There one clear case where the common name monkey comb does have a literal meaning.
is
Aublet
In his review of this manuscript, Bradley Bennett wrote: "In Ecuador, Apeiba aspera
called peine de mono (Monkey's comb). Wooly monkeys and capuchin monkeys use the
is
spiny capsule brush
fruit to their coat."
^Duppy name same
is the Jamaican for spirits, especially spirits of the dead. Jumbie has the
meaning and and with
occurs in Jamaica in other Caribbean Islands. In general, plants
duppy
or jimibie names (of which there are many) are regarded as inedible or poisonous,
while with monkey names some may be
plants regarded unusual way, but
are as in still
eaten.
sWickens Alpino
(1982:174) savs In 1952, the Venetian herbalist and physician Prospero
known
Thus
name know
invented by the Cairo merchants for a fruit (and tree) which they did not in
//
the wild.
^In St. Croix the baobab also known as Guinea almond. This probably because the
is
is
baobab seeds which and
are eaten in St. Crobc Jamaica taste like the seeds of the tropical
almond
(Terminalia
calappa).
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This
Dana
son, Cope, Barbara Borg, and Darlene Daehler-Wilking. thank
I
tl
Austin and Bradley many
Bennett,
for their useful suggestions. Walter
1
the and
abstract into Spanish,
Beatrice Stiglitz translated into French
it
D
LITERATURE
CITE
ABRAHAMS,
ROGER
and JOHN ADAMS, DENNIS
D. Flowering
C. 1972.
F.
SZWED.
(editors). 1983. After Africa. Plants of Jamaica. University of the
from
Extracts
British Travel Accounts West Mona,
Indies, Jamaica.
and FRANK CUN-
ANDERSON,
Journals of the Seventeenth, Eigh- IZETT and
and
and
teenth, Nineteenth Centuries DALL. Proverbs
1972. Jamaica
Concerning
the Slaves, Their Manners, Book Lim-
Sayings. Sangster's Stores
and Customs
in the West
British
ited, Kingston, Jamaica.
New
Indies. Yale University BAILLON, HENRI ERNEST
Press, Die-
1876-1892.
Haven,
CT.
tionnaire de Botanique. Hachette, Paris.