Names and naming: Introducing the series

03 Feb, 2019 - 00:02 0 Views

The Sunday News

Phathisa Nyathi

WHEN one journey ends, another begins. This is true of our brief sojourn on this physical plane within Mother Earth. There was, among Africans, a belief that when one dies, his/her soul or spirit starts on another journey, a journey to the land of spirits. I still have a vivid memory of one of my grandmothers in my rural home who said, “Please, do not wail. You will block his path! “Lingaze lakhala, lizavalel’ umntwan’ indlela’’. My grandmother, a Ncube of the Shazhamangwe clan, was the oldest in our area at the time and was deemed the repository of our values beliefs and spiritual knowledge about the fate of human souls or spirits following death.

A baby had passed on and as culture demands, there was a lot of wailing, both cultural wailing and crying out of pain. Our culture expects women to wail when entering a homestead where death has occurred. All along the way, they would have been discussing various issues and laughing their lungs out even.

As soon as they approach the homestead where there is bereavement they burst into wild wailing, with arms crossed over the head, ukuthwala imikhono. Others will even roll on the ground as if possessed by the demon of grief. This is what I term cultural wailing or crying. Our society demands of women to do exactly that. Indeed, people will say so and so has gone esililweni. Ukulila means to cry. In towns which are sites of death of our language, they will say, “So and so has gone emalilweni.”

Then there is crying out of a deep sense of loss and sadness deriving from loss of a close relative, a loved one or a close friend. It is crying which is natural and is done by one who is heartbroken and disconsolate. Our culture does not expect men to do the same — that is crying like womenfolk. “Izinyembezi zendoda ziphelela esifubeni.” A man’s tears are restricted to his chest. “Umfana akakhali, thula mntanami,” the mothers will console their sons. Society demands that men demonstrate stoicism and that was inculcated during initiation upon attainment of puberty. Their future roles demanded that they be strong and endure hardships and heads of families. Crying women are emotionally stronger; no wonder men, by and large die first leaving behind widows.

Well, enough about physical and spiritual journeys. This article closes the old chapter — Journey to Great Zimbabwe and ushers in another equally long journey to the world of names and naming. We name our world. The cosmos is no exception. Stars, planets and even moons are given names. Weather conditions are given names. Various clouds have names; imilaza (cirrus), amaxhegu (cumulus). There must surely be reasons why we give names to heavenly bodies.

However, it is our immediate world, our environment that we always name, but why? We may be taking naming lightly but it ought not to be that way. It just cannot be naming for naming’s sake. In our language the word for name is ibizo, a noun from the verb biza, meaning to call out.

There are instances when we call out creatures that we have named. We call them by their names. “Londisizwe!” we call out for the attention of one with that name. However, there are other objects that we have named such as stellar and planetary bodies. We never call them out as they are not in a position to respond. They are, all the same, given names.

Human beings have verbal languages which they use to name the world around them. Sometimes animals that they have given names will respond when their names are called out. “Emfolweni Jamludi!” Indeed Jamludi, a draught ox, will respond accordingly. This may have been achieved through the use of conditioning as discovered by Pavlov. Most of us who did Biology are familiar with Pavlov’s dogs which, each time they were given food a bell was rung.

That was done over a long period of time. Pavlov observed that each time the dogs saw food and heard the bell ring, they salivated. Sight of food and the sound of the bell became associated. Eventually the sound of bell alone was enough to cause salivation. The call, “Jamludi!” and the swish became associated. Jamludi became conditioned and each time the call was made in the absence of a swish or rein, umchilo, he knew the expected behaviour and behaved accordingly.

Naming is even more comprehensive when it comes to our immediate environment. The physical terrain is named. Soils, grass, shrubs and trees have names, from the smallest to the biggest. The Shona world has a good example of the comprehensive nature regarding naming of trees. When, during their migrations, they got to a certain area they came across a tree that they did not have a name for. Surely, from experience they had to refer to the tree by name, but the tree was without a name. Indeed, the tree became known as, “the tree without a name” Muti usina zita. That became the name of that particular tree and today there is a place by that name in the Save River area.

The river in question had already been named after the “BaMwenye vashava,” who lived in the area and their predecessors noting the new arrivals were light-skinned people aptly named them as BaMwenye vashava. It was a description of those people that would give rise to names such as Mashava and Zvishavane.

Our history resides in our names, be they names of people, of places, of rivers, of mountains and forests, inter alia. For a non-literate people naming was one way of documenting history. Indeed, we shall, over several weeks, seek to unpack the ritual of naming and what role naming played in the lives of a people.

We could give the example of the Ndebele who had been directed to get to a flat-topped mountain where the river drainage system parted — there were rivers flowing to the south towards the Limpopo River, Ubengwane while other rivers drained to the north towards the Zambezi River, Ugwembe. But more specifically, the area was said to abound with sweet grass called or named imbanjana. It was sweet grass which the Ndebele, as keen pastoralists, very much sought after. The area in question was around what is now named Intaba(ye)zinduna.

Apparently, the Khondwane Ndiweni-led group did not settle exactly there but they were not very far away. One of the rivers with a source in the area is Ncema River which one crosses just before getting to the David Livingstone Secondary School turnoff if one is travelling towards Gweru. The road used to be called/named Nqagwana, after the name of one of Mtshane’s sons, the one who was father to both Mthuthuseli Albert Khumalo and younger brother Phillios Mtshane Khumalo.

The latter was Head of David Livingstone Secondary School some educational facility for the Presbyterian Church of Southern Africa. Just further on, beyond the Anglo-Ndebele War Memorial at Gadade, there is the source of the Mbembesi River whose waters flow into the Gwayi River, a tributary of the Zambezi River. The Ndebele had been given accurate description of the area where they were to settle.

It was King Mzilikazi’s party which included Igabha led by Chief Maqhekeni Sithole and Amhlophe led by Chief Gwabalanda Mathe that settled very close to the described place. His settlement, named Amahlokohloko, was not far from Isiphongo Mountain on the road from Bulawayo to Inyathi. Esiphikeni is close by and derives its name from a Ndebele garment, actually a hood worn around the neck. A neck holds and is close to head, a metaphor for the Head of State and his capital town. Not far from Esiphikeni was Amahlokohloko, named after birds which frequent riverine environments and have a distinctive call — hloko-hloko-hloko-hloko.

 

Share This:

Survey


We value your opinion! Take a moment to complete our survey

This will close in 20 seconds