Lengua de Mayombe - Angelfire

13 Pages·2008·0.25 MB·English

by  Luis Garcia

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L
Bantu Survival
i
n
g
in the Cuban u
i
s
t
i
“Lengua de Mayombe” c
s
William W. Megenney
Professor, University of California, Riverside
U.S.A.
It is a wellknown fact that Cuba received a word deriving from kiKongo ma-yòmbe,
many African slaves during its colonial ‘magistrate, chief, prince, governor’2
period, many of which arrived from In a brief note in the Journal of Pidgin
both the Sudanic- and Bantu-speaking areas and Creole Languages,3 Armin Schwegler
of western Africa. From the so-called Sudan draws our attention to the fact of a possible
strip (i.e., from the Senegambia in the North homogeneous body of kiKongo derived
to the Cameroon) came mainly the Yoruba words extant in the Cuban lengua congo,
(lucumíor anagóin Cuba), the Efik (carabalí many of which are entirely transparent, some
or Ibibio, also known as abakuáor brícamos of which are partially transparent, and some
in Cuba), and the Ewe/Fon (araráin Cuba).1 without any apparent connection to this
From the Bantu-speaking territories (i.e., Bantu language, the latter group being a
principally from the Cameroon south into phenomenon which Schwegler explains as the
Namibia) came mainly the kiKongo and the result of misanalyzation of the data.
kiMbundu, found in the Democratic Schwegler also brings home this point in his
Republic of the Congo (formerly Zaire) and two-part study of etymologies of the Bantu
in Angola. It is from these Bantu folk that ritual vocabulary as found in El monteand in
the regla de mayombedeveloped in Cuba and, the Vocabulario congo of Lydia Cabrera,4 as
despite the harsh odds brought about by slav- well as in two of his studies on Colombian
ery, survived as a religious cult, bringing palenquero.5 As Schwegler has said, the
with it an amazing amount of kiKongo extraordinary amount of both transparent
derived words and expressions which are still and partially transparent but virtually obvi-
used today by the practitioners of mayombe, ous kiKongo words found in the Cuban
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lengua congo, in the lexicon of the Cuban ture, which gives a dynamic edge to the mate-
mayomberos, and in Colombian palenquero, rial offered by the Tata, as well as a more pre-
begs the question of the length of time cise indication of the amount of Bantu
(colonial and post-colonial) during which derived words which are actually still used by
kiKongo may have been spoken relatively flu- Cuban mayomberos, or at least by this may-
ently among slaves of Bantu origin in the ombero.
Caribbean, especially in Cuba. Some schol- González states in his preamble to the
ars have commented about the relatively large interview presentation that he attempted to
number of sub-Saharan words still found in obtain glossaries of lengua palerain order to
Cuba, both of Sudanic and Bantu origins.6 double check the content of the interview
In fact, these living remnants of African lan- material. While doing this, he consulted
guages may very well rival those extant in libretas de palo (booklets dealing with the
Haiti and surpass the use of African-derived palo montecults), from which he was able to
words in Afro-Brazilian religious cults.7 compile a large glossary of terms which,
In his interview with the anonimous according to him, will be published sometime
Tata Kuyere Nkisi, rey de los espíritus, in the near future.9
Rigoberto González García8 recorded the The material found in this study is the
Tata’s speech as he heard it and published it in product of several interviews conducted in
the journal Caribe, along with virtually the 1994 with the Afro-Cuban informant. We
same text transformed into normative are told by González that it is as close to the
Spanish. According to González, this partic- actual speech of the Tataas was possible for
ular Tata is one of the most famous in him to reproduce. In addition, González
Matanzas, Cuba, claiming to descend direct- tells us that on occasion the Tata would
ly from the (as called in Cuba) Congo nation appear to fall into some sort of trance which
through his mother. Despite the secretive would come about, according to him, due to
nature of the lengua congoor lengua de may- the arrival of a nfumbe ebembo (an African
ombe, González was able to conduct several spirit) which the mayombero would imitate
interviews with el rey by creating a relaxed in voice and gestures.
environment with the informant, thus gain- Using the dictionaries compiled by
ing his confidence. Out of respect for the Laman10 and by Silva Maia,11 I was able to
Tata’s esteemed position in the community, identify many of the Bantu derived words
González promised not to divulge his name. present in the interviews. A number of other
The substance of the interviews revolved glossaries were consulted for comparison.12A
around the practice of the regla de mayombe, host of other dictionaries of African lan-
which permitted González to obtain a more guages was also used for the non-transparent
direct and personal description of the reli- cases in an attempt to verify the absence or
gious group than he would have if the presence of other possible African sources,
informant had only repeated formulas, remembering, for example, that the Efik
songs, and ritual expressions lifted directly (ñáñigoor brícamosin Cuba) were relatively
from ceremonies. Here, the particular free- numerous in Cuba and were influential in the
flowing and relaxed style of the interviewee formation of the abakuá religious cult
parallels the author/narrator/participant group, which may have had some cross fertil-
point of view seen in many works of litera- ization with the mayombe group.
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The format of the present study In the present study, then, we shall
will be somewhat comparable to the divide the African derived vocabulary into (1)
Schwegler pattern of dividing the data into “transparent” (at times without a perfect
three sections, i.e., “entirely transparent ety- one-to-one correspondence, but close enough
mologies”, “not entirely transparent ety- to satisfy our definition of “transparent”13),
mologies,”and “words without any apparent (2) “not entirely transparent”, and (3) no
connection to kiKongo sources”. It will vary apparent connection or no gloss given in the
slightly from this pattern due to the fact that transformed Spanish version. At times it will
some of the mayombe material extends into be necessary to combine two or three of these
phrases of several words strung together divisions given the compound nature of the
which are not always glossed word-for-word examples. Words which are repeated in the
in the Spanish interpretation (appearing to recorded interview will not be repeated in
the right of the transcribed interview), thus this list. Rather, an asterisk will be placed
making it difficult at times to know for cer- after the words which are found more than
tain the exact correspondences between the once in the text. The glosses for the mayombe
mayombe words and their Spanish counter- words given here are the ones appearing in
parts. Also, some of the transparent may- the transformed Spanish text, which we have
ombe words appear with non-transparent translated into English. In the case of the
words in the same utterance or as part of one meanings found in the dictionairies, I have
word which should have been analyzed as also translated from the original languages
two, making it more difficult to etymologize (i.e., French, Portuguese) into English.
these expressions. Also, it is interesting to
note that several of the mayombe words are 1.The words and expressions found in
repeated various times during the interview. the interview
This could indicate a general limited number
of mayombe words, requiring repetition 1.1 “The transparent items”
rather than an expanded use of (perhaps)
more appropriate terms for the occasions 1) bakasala / emberekoto / eto(should
specified, or it could simply represent a repe- have been divided bakasala / emberekoto /
titious style on the part of the Tata. In either eto) ‘stone knife.’ KiKongo baaka 14 (W =
case, it would be interesting to know just West), ‘a kind of knife used to clean palm
how extensive this mayombe lexicon is and trees.’ For embere, we found kiKongo
how well (i.e., appropriate usage in the regla mbeele,‘knife, blade of a knife, daggar.’The
de mayombe with accurate semantic refer- word sala, which is not transparent, could
ences) it is used among the mayomberos of stem from kiKongo sala ‘to accomplish,
Cuba. It is obviously more extensive than employ, utilize’(perhaps a reference to the
what we have in this particular interview, initiation act in which the stone knife is
since other scholars (e.g., Schwegler, Perl, used). Also, kiKongo sala, as an auxiliary
Fuentes and Gómez, Díaz Fabelo) have verb, ‘the act of resting after accomplishing a
recorded different words (with some obvious task or after a series of tasks’; also ‘the act of
overlaps) from the ones to be analyzed in this removing oneself from the place where one
study. has completed a task or an action.’
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As for kòto, it could stem from fact, nzénze is the source for sesé, which it
kiKongo kòto,‘handfull, palm of the hand,’ may be, given the absence of /z/ in Spanish.15
with reference to holding the knife. 12) mambo‘song.’ KiKongo mambu(<
Finally, eto may be from kiKongo dyambu) ‘words, speeches, matter, subject,
–éeto, possessive pronoun, 1st person plural, theme.’ KiKongo also has an exclamation
‘our,’which is also used as an emphatic pro- which is used at the end of a song: E mambu
noun, as in mwendo éeto,‘weleave.’Umbundu e.16 We may also note that KiKongo pluraliz-
also has etu‘we’). er ma- (a pluralizer is a minimal linguistic
2) nfumbe* ebembo*‘dead.’ KiKongo unit whose meaning modifies or completes
na bembo,‘to split, to break, smash, shatter.’ the meaning of two lexemes) plus KiKongo
KiKongo mbembo (S = South) ‘a death mbó ‘exclamation of joy used when one
chant, death moan, wail.’ receives something long waited for’is used on
3) kimbansa ‘grasses.’ KiKongo kim- special occasions. In addition, we may com-
banzya,‘a kind of grass.’ pare Efik (southern Nigeria) mam, an ono-
4) kuenda*‘we went walking.’KiKongo matopeic expression used for imitating loud
kwenda,‘to go, to walk, to advance on foot.’ noises, plus Efik bo,‘to speak,’as a possible
5) lango‘water.’KiKongo nlangu‘water, source which may have overlapped with the
liquid; anything watery.’ KiKongo lánga(E KiKongo expressions.
= East), ‘to flow, to overflow, to inundate.’ 13) masango ‘straw from corn.’
Cf. kiMbundu nlangu,‘water.’ KiKongo masángu, (plural) ‘corn.’
6) lango chola‘river water.’ KiKongo Interestingly, as happens in several instances,
(E) sóla ~ tsóla,‘to flow, to leak.’The word the word-final –u of the lending language
“chola,”with its initial alveopalatal affricate transforms into -o as happened during the
(a consonant that consists of the rapid and process of vulgar Latin becoming Spanish.
repeated articulation of an occlusive [a stop] 14) matari‘with stone.’KiKongo matá-
and friction) no doubt came from the tsola di,‘stones, rocks, reefs.’ Note the [d] > [r]
variation, since there would be no reason for change, common in many Bantu languages.
sóla to turn into “chola,”i.e., [s] >/ [‘ch’], 15) mayombe* ‘mayombe.’According to
whereas [ts] would have easily given [‘ch’]. Bolívar Aróstegui & González Díaz de
7) lango kalunga‘sea water.’ Angolan Villegas,17mayombeis ‘the intimate relation
kiKongo (S) kalunga,‘lake, sea, ocean.’ of the spirit of a dead person who, together
8) lango sambe‘holy water.’ KiKongo with animals, water, minerals, earth, trees
(E) nsambu,‘blessing.’ and grasses, make up the universe worshiped
9) lango kasusa‘river.’ KiKongo kásu by the Cuban ancestors of the men and
(dyantu), ‘ribbon, cord, head band.’ women who were brought from the kingdom
10) lemba ‘to become dark’ (in the of Manikongo.’These authors also tell us that
evening). KiKongo lemba,‘nightfall.’ these peoples founded the mayombereligion
11) malafo* sesé ‘dry wine.’ KiKongo in Pinar del Río, where there were many
(E) malafu,‘palm wine, alcohol, wine in gen- Manikongo slaves who subsequently escaped
eral.’For sesé, not transparent, kiKongo (N from their owners and fled into the bush.
= North) nzenze,was found, meaning ‘salin- Those who were eventually caught and killed
ity, sweetness, very spicy.’ We are probably by the rancheadores18became an essential part
witnessing a change in meaning here if, in of the so-called fundamentos, ngangas,19 or
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prendas (= ngangas)20 of the contemporary 24) nfinda ‘cemetery earth.’ KiKongo
mayomberos. Some of these present day may- fìnnda, ‘to kill [stiff] dead’; ‘to apply the
omberos take the names of their deceased death blow.’ KiKongo mfìnda,‘place of the
ancestors. spirits of the dead (for the first time period).’
KiKongo mayombe, ‘magistrate, KiKongo ku mfìnda, ‘in the tomb after
principal chief, prince, governor, honorary death.’ Cf. KiKongo mwissi mfìnda‘spirit of
title.’Mayombeis also ‘the name of a wooded the forests.’
country to the north of Boma, as well as a 25) ngando*‘crocodile.’KiKongo ngán-
country to the south of Musaana in the du,‘crocodile.’
French Congo and in some other places.’21 26) ngó‘tiger.’ KiKongo ngò,‘leopard,
16) mbele*‘machete.’ KiKongo mbeele, panther, tiger.’
‘knife, blade of a knife, daggar, sword.’ 27) ngonda mbumba ‘full moon.’
17) menga ‘blood.’ KiKongo menga, KiKongo ngònda, ‘moon’ (cf. KiMbundu
‘blood; race, family.’ ngonde‘moon’). KiKongo mbumba (NE =
18) mpaka ‘sacred jar.’ KiKongo North East) ‘a round piece of manioc; a
Mpakala (capitalized in the text), ‘idol, round cassava cake made ready for sale by
sacred object, name of all the nkisi drying; a large round wooden drum.’
myansakulu.’22 28) nkandia‘skin, hide.’KiKongo nkan-
19) mpemba karire ‘velas encendidas.’ dia,‘skin, leather, hide, crust, bark.’
KiKongo mpembe,‘luminous.’ We could not 29) nkisi*‘fetish, charm, magic, prenda,
find the word karirein the African language spirit of the dead’. KiKongo nkísi,‘fetish,
sources consulted, but believe it could stem magic, sorcery, charm.’
from Spanish candil, which may have been 30) nkuni ndoki ‘diabolical tree.’
rendered as carire (see below) by the black KiKongo nkúni (plural of lukúni), ‘fire-
slaves, since paragogical vowels (vowels wood.’Cf. kiKongo kúni‘ownership of fruit
added to the end of words or syllables) were trees (nsafu), palm trees, banana trees, etc.’
common in their form of Spanish during the For ndoki, kiKongo ndoki,‘presumed author
colonial period.23 The development *candile of a spell or charm, of evil; sorcerer or one
> cadile > carirewould have been expected, who takes the life of another by magic or
remembering also that [d, r, l ] were easily sorcery.’
interchanged in both Bantu and Romance 31) nkuto‘ears.’KiKongo kuto,‘ear.’
languages. 32) nsunsu* yambake ‘black rooster.’
20) mpolo‘front’; ‘ash.’KiKongo ampo- KiKongo ekoko dia nsusu, nsusu ia koko,
lo,‘ash.’KiMbundu polo,‘front.’ nsusu ekoko,nsusu a mbakala,‘rooster.’ We
21) muinda ‘candle.’ KiKongo mwinda, were unable to find yambake.
‘anything luminous, lamp, candle, spark 33) nto ‘the dead of the prenda.’
plug.’ KiKongo ntó,‘cemetery.’
22) ndoque*‘witches.’ KiKongo ndòki, 34) ntoto‘the Devil’s earth.’ KiKongo
‘witch, presumed author of witchcraft or ntoto‘ash,’also appears as part of the Spanish
malice.’ gloss in the Menure . . .utterance in 24, 1.3.
23) Nduana* (capitalized in the text) 35) Sambia‘God.’KiKongo sambila(<
‘battle.’ KiKongo ndwana, ‘battle, brawl, samba, relative of‘to pray, implore, invoque,
fight.’ to ask someone for help.’ Also,
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kiKongo/kiMbundu Nzambi, ‘God.’ The 3) bondo finda ‘elephant hunter.’
expression “Padre Sambia”appears in a con- KiKongo bóndo, ‘animal footprints.
temporary Afro-Cuban song transcribed in a KiKongo fìnnda,‘to kill stiff dead; to shoot
work by Isabel Castellanos.24The word also a wounded animal, apply the death blow.’
occurs as Zumbí in Brazil25 and as sombí in According to Silva Maia, elephant in
the Dominican Republic.26Nzambiis also the kiKongo is bulu kia nfinda kiampuena-
source of the English word zombi, borrowed mpuena.
from the French-speaking settlers in 4) fiñe‘niños.’KiKongo finyénga(E), ‘a
Lousiana, many of whom came from Haiti, very small thing.’
the source of voodoo (vodun) < Ewe/Fon 5) mbele kimbo ‘machete.’ See # 16
vodu, (open ‘o’) wherein we find the zom- (1.1) for mbele. KiKongo kimbono (Be =
bies.27 Bembe) ‘stick.’
36) simba ndoki (ndoque) ‘catch the 6) ganga*‘prenda, pot in which the spir-
devil.’KiKongo simba,‘to grasp, seize, grab, it resides.’ Kimbundu nganga, ‘magic.’
hold on to.’ KiKongo ngànga ‘doctor, medic; teller of
37) sunga*‘tobacco.’ KiKongo súnga good fortune.’ According to Lydia Cabrera,
(W), ‘tobacco.’ ganga is “una cazuela de barro o hierro que
38) tatandile* kuyere* (should have contiene el ‘fundamento’de toda su actividad
been divided as tata* ndi le) ‘the father mágica”[A clay or iron pot containing the
king.’ KiKongo táata‘father, uncle, aunt; fundamentoof all its magic activity].
chief, owner of a slave.’ KiMbundu tata, 7) kiako‘quiet, still.’KiKongo kyaku,‘a
‘father.’ Cf. Igbo (related to the Ibibio or figurative expression of making loud noises
Carabalí, who were also taken to Cuba) with the mouth.’ It could have acquired the
ndi olu (> ndile [?]), ‘people who dwell opposite meaning in Cuba.
on the shores of the Niger River’. Kuyere 8) kinsiako‘sacred prenda.’ KiKongo
is not all together transparent; however, nkísi + kiKongo –àaku‘your’(familiar) or
we have found KiKongo ku-‘you’(famil- –áaku‘your’(polite).
iar) and yele,28‘to be intelligent; to honor, 9) lele‘egg.’KiKongo leledi(NE), ‘crest
revere’(as one honors one’s father or the on a chicken’s head.’
king[?]). 10) Mackandeke‘a person.’ KiKongo
39) wanga ‘witchcraft.’ KiMbundu má-kánnda (N), from the verb, ‘person of
wanga,‘witchcraft.’ KiKongo wánga (fig.), small stature,’+ kiKongo Ndéeke, ‘a proper
‘said of a wicked or naughty person.’ name for a person who is too small or too
young.’
1.2 “Not entirely transparent items” 11) nkisi malongo*, no gloss given.
KiKongo malongo ‘medicine.’ This source
1) balongo‘kettle, pot.’ KiKongo longo would fit semantically with the meaning of
‘bassinet’+ kiKongo baa, ‘pot cover, plate nkisi (see # 30, 1.1) in the context of the
cover.’ interview, i.e., ‘something potent.’
2) basimbi* ‘reincarnated, reborn, risen 12) Muna ngonda mbele (see #s 27 &
from the dead.’Yoruba bási,‘why, how[?]’+ 16, 1.1) diambo ngó (see # 25, 1.1), eki*
Yoruba bí‘to bear a child.’ Nothing similar menga ngó kuenda kunancheto* mayombe
was found in kiKongo. (see # 15, 1.1) Ngando Congo ( = Kongo).
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Here we have chosen to present the entire 13) mutambre*‘overseer or person of
utterance since the gloss does not correspond much confidence.’ KiKongo mutambudi,‘tax
word for word to the mayombe statement. collector.’
Taken as a whole, one can attempt to deci- 14) ndondo lili‘palm.’KiKongo ndondo
pher general meanings within the utterance. ‘a climbing plant.’ KiKongo lilia,‘lily’(as in
The gloss given is: “Under the power of the the Bible).
moon the ritual knife will sacrifice the tiger 15) ndoro ‘men.’ KiKongo ndodoto
to strengthen the recepticle of mayombe (NE), ‘one certain person.’
Battle Congo.” 16) nfuiri* ‘dead.’ KiKongo fwidi,
The words in bold print were dis- ‘grease from coal or soot used in mourning;
covered as follows: KiKongo muuna, ‘here clothing or ointment used when mourning.’
and there.’Diambo ‘ritual,’kiKongo dyambu, 17) nfumbe* ebembo* (see #2, 1.1)
‘process, message, action, event, act.’ Eki ‘dead, spirit.’ KiKongo mfùmbi (NE), ‘albi-
menga should have been parsed e kimenga, nos whose hair is used for nkisi.’
since kimenga is ‘sacrifice’in kiKongo. The 18) ngando‘attributes.’KiKongo nkán-
word éin kiKongo is a demonstrative particle du,‘honor, respect; respectable.’
used for emphasis or deixis, to point out 19) nkombo‘body.’KiKongo nkambu ia
something special. Also, we may note that nitu ia antu,‘body.’
menga‘blood’(= ‘sacrifice’[?]) perhaps from 20) npaka vititi mensu‘a jar used to see
kiKongo méenga (not used very often) < the invisible.’KiKongo mpàkala, ‘idol, sacred
menguka‘to crush, break’, may have some object, name of all the nkisi myansakulu.’
connection to “sacrifice”(i.e., breaking = KiKongo bítiki, ‘very visible’(possible rever-
sacrificing). Kuenda*, perhaps ‘to fortify,’ sal of meaning or a reference to the invisible
from kiKongo kwenda, an auxiliary verb used becoming visible[?]). Cf. Tshiluba (S.E.
in certain expressions to relay the idea of Zaire) mesu(open ‘e’), ‘to see.’
something which will be produced immedi- 21) Nsala‘cleanliness.’ KiKongo (W)
ately. Kunancheto*, even though glossed in has nsaala,‘speckle’; (with reference to a pig)
another part of the interview as ‘through the ‘spotted.’This may be a case of opposite
forest,’here it seems to be glossed as ‘pan’ meaning transferred into Cuban mayombe.
(cazuela); it may come from a combination of 22) Sambianpungo‘the great power of
kiKongo nkúna,‘ancestors, family, descen- God.’ We have already identified Sambi as
dants’and –ncheto. If the cazuelais a refer- from kiKongo Nzámbi. The other parts of
ence to the ngangaor prenda, where the spir- this expression were found as: kiKongo –ana
its of the ancestors live or come to visit, then (N) form of the verb “to be”, equal to –eti;
the gloss makes sense. The –ncheto part of ana (S) adv. ‘thus, in this way, as’; ana adv.,
the expression remains a mystery. The closest conj. ‘then, hence, so’; ana, a aparticle or
word in kiKongo phonetically is cyeto[‘ch’je- explicative word used especially in familiar
to] ‘peanut, earthnut,’which semantically has language and having no particular meaning,
no relation that we know of to the context. but serving to avoid a hiatus or an undesir-
Ngándu in kiKongo has several different able liaison within the utterance. Stapleton29
meanings varying diatopically (geographi- informs us that the Bantu prefix a-is used to
cally), none of which is ‘battle,’as glossed show possession and occurs before the noun.
here. Here, this is probably not the source (even
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though it seems tempting to suggest that it 6) guato kisambe‘as your stick’[?] ([?]
is, given the meaning of the utterance) since = unsure gloss ). No source found.
the a- does not occur before the possessor 7) güiringando ‘adornments, decora-
noun, i.e., Sambi, but rather after it. Pungo tions.’ Perhaps from kiKongo nkwindi ~
may be from kiKongo mpúngu,‘the highest, nkwíti, ‘grandeur,’ + kiKongo nkándu,
the greatest, the most distinguished; ‘honor, respect.’
supreme,’which fits well semantically. 8) kakosuma‘cleanliness’[?]. No source
found.
1.3 “Items unable to identify” 9) kandengue‘Devil.’ KiKongo ka ‘to
be’+ kiKongo ndenge,‘recién nacido’[?].
1) arafa‘knife.’ ‘Knife’in kiKongo is 10) kangome‘bones.’No source found.
ndaaka (W), ‘knife for cutting grasses.’ (E) 11) kikiani yosi kindembo dian
‘sword.’ kunancheto[?], ‘Which was the first African
2) beró‘pure.’Perhaps from Spanish ver- shaman pot[?].’ Found was kiKongo kiki,
daderowith haplology[?]. ‘that which,’kiKongo ándi (emphatic), ‘he,
3) briyumba*, no gloss given. KiKongo she’; kiKongo nki[?], ‘which?,’ kiMbundu
biri (Bembe), ‘cola nut.’ KiKongo yúmmba, inani,‘who,’kiKongo nani?,‘who?’, kiKongo
‘to pile up in a heap.’In the context, it would kikanhi ([kinañi]), ‘what[?]’(acoustic equiva-
appear that briyumba is a place name. lence?). KiKongo emosi,‘first.’ KiKongo
Derivative briyumbero. kindembo, ‘a secret language.’ KiKongo
4) cheché, no gloss given. In nagó dyanu, conjunctive adverb, ‘thus, this is the
cheché ere cheché ere! is translated as ‘se reason, therefore.’
refiere a los muñecos de palo que preparados 12) kindemo* ~ kindembo‘pot, kettle.’
por el agugú (brujo), caminan de noche por No source found.
las calles y campos’30 [a reference to the stick 13) kirikutu kirindinga guisa mambo
dolls which, prepared by the agugú, walk at mu mboa‘abre bien las entendederas’(‘open
night through the streets and the country- wide the understandings’) KiKongo kìri
side]. (Bembe) = kìdi, auxiliary verb; kídi conj.
5) Eki menga kutunga congo kiguana, ‘that, about which’; KiKongo nkutu, adv.
kiguana, ‘the sacrificial blood of the new ‘completely, all, absolutely, all done, totally.’
Congo horse runs, runs.’ As mentioned Perhaps this would equal the “bien”[?] For
(#12, 1.2), the first two words (eki menga) ndinga, kiKongo ndínga < nínga, ‘voice,
should have been parsed as E kimenga, since word, sound, cry; language, dialect, dis-
kimengain kiKongo is ‘sacrifice.’According course.’ Could this equal entendederas?
to the context, kutunga should mean Guisacould be from Spanish guisa‘manner’
‘horse,’but no equivalent word was found in (a guisa de). For mambo, we found kiKongo
the African sources consulted. The word màmbu, ‘words, affairs, palaver, discourse,
kiguana‘run’could be a shortened form of proceedings (law).’ Also, cf. Efik mam, an
kiKongo kingwangula (N) ‘swiftness.’ The onomatopeic expression imitating a loud
congohere might be from kiKongo kongo‘a sound + Efik bo, ‘to speak.’ The idea of
false idol’or ‘a great nkisi’or ‘something “speaking”could also equal the entendederas
which is great or grand,’with reference to of the Spanish gloss. The word mu was
the sacrificial blood. found in kiKongo as ‘personal prefix which is
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often added to a noun to express (1) an 24) Menure ntoto ‘the Devil’s earth.’
inhabitant or visitor of a certain locality (by Menure (which appears capitalized in the
his/her name), for example, mumboma‘trav- text) was described by González García as a
eler from Mboma’; (2) the person who carries ‘mezcla de tierra del diablo.’We were not able
out the action indicated by the main word, to find anything similar in any of the African
for example, mungozi ‘snorer,’ from ngozi, language dictionaries consulted. None-
‘snoring.’mu mboa = mumboma[?]. theless, ntoto may be from kiKongo ntooto,
14) kisenga, no gloss given. KiKongo ‘black, humid earth; muddy, slimy dirt.’
ki,prefix for diminutive singular + kiKongo The phrase Menure ntoto … is the first
senga(Vili), ‘sand’[?]. part of a long utterance that reads as fol-
15) kiyiso*, no gloss given. KiKongo lows: “Menure ntoto, mpolo nto kiyiso,
kíinyi, ‘face, countenance.’ KiKongo na só, patimbolo ngundo, ntoto campo nfinda y
‘figurative in the sense of to fall, such as a ajo.”The translation given reads as follows:
drop of water.’ “... de muerto, huesos de la frente de los
16) kriyumba‘cranium, skull.’Probably muertos de la prenda, hechos polvo, cenizas
originallykiriyumba. No source found. de diferentes palos, tierra de cementerio y
17) kuame‘rest.’From kiKongo kwa,‘to ajo.” [Eng.: ‘of the dead, bones of the fore-
die’(= ‘to rest’[?]) + me[?]. head of the dead of the prenda, become dust,
18) kuenda‘bones.’No source found for ashes from different palos, dirt of the ceme-
this meaning. See #4, 1.1. tery and garlic’].
19) kuní, no gloss given. KiKongo 25) munanso ‘fundamento, nganga,
kúni,‘palms, banana trees, pineapple.’ prenda.’No source found.
20) kutanga congo kuenda ganga 26) nani‘to flee.’No source found.
kiriko cuadrilla nfuiri, glossed as ‘The 27) ndoqui‘dead.’Cf. # 22, 1.1.
new horse is in the prenda with the troup 28) Ngando (capitalized in the text)
of spirits.’ Found were, for kutanga, ‘battle.’No source found.
kiKongo kutana‘to gather together and 29) ngeyo* ‘newly born’; ‘initiate.’
be near one another,’which might connect KiKongo ngéngo, ‘torch, flame, light’ [?].
with ‘troup of spirits’; also, kiKongo Also, ngeyo as ‘initiate.’ KiKongo ngeye,
nkutana‘assembly.’ For congo see # 5, ‘you.’No source found.
1.3. For kuendasee #4, 1.1. For ganga 30) ngundo, no gloss given. KiKongo
see #6, 1.2. We found only kiKongo kiri- ngúndi, ‘mound of earth.’
ki (Bembe), ‘a certain person’ and 31) nkisi malongo, no gloss given. We
nkidiku,‘a nkisi tree’for kiriko, neither found kiKongo malongo,‘medicine.’
of which fits the context. 32) ntango‘to become dark.’ KiKongo
21) lucena ‘head.’ Perhaps from ntángu,‘sun, time, present time, hour, occa-
kiKongo luse, ‘forehead, countenance,’ + sion, favorable time, precise time.’
Mende [Mende here [?] na,‘that which.’ 33) ntualo‘cat.’No source found.
22) lumbó‘to remain quiet.’ Perhaps 34) ntufi‘that which is bad.’ KiKongo
from kiKongo lembama,‘quiet,’or kiKongo ntuvi,‘excess in eating, drinking, etc.’Also,
lulembamu,‘quietness.’ kiKongo tùvi,‘excrement, dung’[?], KiKongo
23) mambroso‘sacramental drink’[?]. tùfi,tùufi(E), ‘dung, manure.’
No source found. 35) ntufo‘dirty.’No source found.
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36) nyora‘wounds.’No source found. inal meanings have been blurred over time.
37) osereké‘laurel.’No source found. Yet it is amazing at the same time how much
38) palo yaya had no gloss. We found of the sub-Saharan material has survived
kiKongoyaaya (S), ‘reputed, famous.’A redu- over the centuries and has not mixed with the
plication of kiKongo yá,‘palm’might fit due Kwa languages (i.e., Yoruba, Ewe-Fon)
to yaya’s combination with Spanish palo which inundated the island during the XIX
‘tree.’31 century and are the main source for the
39) patimbolo, no gloss given. Cuban santería ceremonies, which have
KiKongo mbòlolo, ‘enclosure, burial place retained many words and expressions in
put aside by the chiefs.’ Anagó (i.e., Yoruba32) and/or Ewe-Fon.33 The
40) piango piango ‘little by little.’ Bantu examples (i.e., kiKongo and some
KiKongo phyangu (W), ‘nautical stay, sup- kiMbundu) seem to prove that these lan-
port.’ guages, which were taken to Cuba in the
41) cueva de Sibirikú. No gloss given. mouths of slaves from the beginning of the
No source found. Caribbean slave trade in the XVI century and
42) susundamba‘owl.’No source found. relatively steadily throughout the entire
43) yaya‘dark dead.’ KiKongo yaya or colonial period, survived in part, at least
yá-yá,‘to cry out in terror.’ (E) ‘to feel the among mayomberosand their disciples, prob-
pain of anxiety or stress.’ ably aided by the constant arrival over the
colonial period of Bantu bozal slaves, who
Of the 105 words in these interviews spoke either only their native languages or a
which have or appear to have sub-Saharan combination of some kind of European-
roots, thirty-nine were classified as “trans- based pidgin and their native languages,
parent,”having readily identifiable African which would increase the possibility of
(mostly kiKongo) sources, twenty-two were retention of African items since they were
“not entirely transparent,”but very suspi- constantly being reintroduced into the coun-
cious as having African sources, while forty- try. Unlike a country such as Venezuela, for
two were completely “unidentifiable”as to example, where there was little renovation of
source. The “not entirely transparent”items sub-Saharan influences due to the purchase
may be the result of misanalyzation, as of slaves from local markets (the slaves’off-
Schwegler has proposed or, in some cases, spring became the source of new workforces)
they may be the result of phonological, mor- and from other Caribbean countries, Cuba
phological and/or semantic changes which experienced a constant influx of new arrivals
occurred with the passage of time as the from Bantu Africa which helped to impede
slaves were relocated from Africa, taken to the process of de-Africanization—the
the new environments of the Americas and, process which occurred in Venezuela.34 The
in many cases, mixed with the colonial fact that virtually all of the “transparent”
European and creole (in the sense of off- lexical items in this corpus stem from
spring of Europeans born in the New World) kiKongo probably means that most of the
peoples who influenced their language members of the regla de mayombecame from
habits. It is obvious, given the number of kiKongo speaking areas of south-central
times that only very rough “translations”can eastern Africa (i.e., Zaire [now the
be given by the informant, that the true orig- Democratic Republic of the Congo],
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