The Sunday News
Phathisa Nyathi
TODAY we exit the intervening space between the cosmos and the terrestrial terrain. It is a terrain that is a human habitat. That becomes apparent in terms of intensity of naming. In short, it is a known environment with which humanity interacts intimately and maintains a positive and mutually beneficial relationship. For the African people in particular, it is an environment that is respected and treated with awe and reverence. Everything has a life of its own. Humankind and other forms of life are beneficiaries when environmental balance or equilibrium is maintained.
Seeing as we are interested in the naming of features that surround man, we appreciate the problem of traversing two different conceptual worlds. The English language expresses concepts from the world of its speakers. So does IsiNdebele. To capture the naming aspects from a Ndebele world and using a language from a different world presents real challenges. For example, in African languages most items die. This means even the inanimate objects have a life of their own. A clay pot dies, so does a car. This is nonsensical in the English language.
Language is intimately tied to the world of its speakers in terms of their worldview, cosmology, beliefs and philosophy. As we deal with names in the Ndebele language, it becomes clear that the English language being used does not fully and succinctly express the Ndebele worldview which has a bearing on naming. Naming gives identity to something or a tag to that which has been named. Admittedly, the world humans live in has a vast array of features and objects that are named. Each requires its own identity or independent life to facilitate both navigation and communication with other persons.
Naming on the earth plane expresses the very important sense of territoriality. Names demarcate boundaries by naming physical features that are recognised as marking borders between communities or nations. The Ramokgwebana River is the boundary between Botswana and Zimbabwe. That the river is so named has a reason. The name comes from a language of the people who did the naming, in this case the BaTswana people.
A named world is easy to navigate. Named natural and cultural features give a sense of direction to the people, travelers in particular. This is important for orientation and movement for various reasons. A scrutiny of names indicates the knowledge that people possess about their environment. The named world is a known world. When new lands are discovered they get named, in the language of the discoverers. Inevitably, when independent African states abandon their languages in favour of colonial languages they should know what their shortsighted policies mean to the African continent and its peoples. Our world, as we know it, is set to shrink while its losses become gains for a foreign world.
As we hit the ground, we are landing on land, on the continent, on a human habitat. This is the world, umhlaba, as named in the Nguni and Ndebele languages. Here our desire is to explore the name umhlaba beyond what a dictionary does. Quite often we hear people say, “umhlaba uyahlaba.” This is reference to hardships that they face on earth. Ukuhlaba literally means to pierce, to gore, to prick, to stab and, in the process, to cause pain. These are words used to imply hardships that one is enduring.
Does the word refer to the whole planet or just the world known to the particular people, the Ndebele in this instance? What exactly is being emphasised when they speak of umhlaba? The human habitat does seem important. From umhlaba people derive livelihoods. Umhlaba is a provider of sustenance. There is water and the soil that sustains trees and grass which provide food for living organisms. Water is life. Umhlaba without water is barren and lifeless.
We know too that reference to umhlaba carries a deeper meaning where it is perceived as female. It is a mother who sustains her children, the living things on earth. As a mother, umhlaba, sometimes gets impatient and displays anger and wrath towards her progeny. Measures that are taken to pacify her further demonstrate that she is indeed perceived as a female.
Related to the name umhlaba is umhlabathi. Years back during the colonial period characterised by repression and oppression of Africans, the slogan was umntwana wenhlabathi, son or daughter of the soil. We could surmise the implied relationship between the soil and the African sons and daughters. Indeed, the soil is their mother. The soil sustains her children through provision of food and water. For her to do that, there has to be water that fertilises her. Once again, the idea of fertility and how it is effected when it comes to the barren Mother Earth expresses African ideas of fertility and continuity as expressed through sexual reproduction. Thus mere mention of the name umhlaba implies and conjures up a lot of African ideas that would otherwise not be expressed by the English word, earth.
As a habitat, umhlaba is home to body and soul. While the marriage between the two subsists, umhlaba is the home and habitat for the two. However, at death, when the two divorce, umhlaba continues to house the divorced body while the spirit moves on to occupy another non-material sphere. The spirit, being intangible, no longer occupies physical or material space. That solves the problem of overpopulation if older generations continued in a physical/material form that requires physical/ material space.
There are several words that are used to express the idea of movement to the next and different world. “Akasekho.” He is no longer there. “Usedlule.” He has moved on. “Usethule.” He has gone quiet. “Usecimezile.” He has closed his eyes. The English words that I have used are a great betrayal. They do not accurately encapsulate the nuances, perceptions and knowledge embodied in IsiNdebele. As a result, we try to render a literal translation so that we get as close as possible to what the Ndebele words are expressing.
What emerges so far is that the name or word umhlaba traverses the physical and material to embrace the intangible and spiritual. For an African people whose spirituality is cosmic, umhlaba is perceived accordingly. It is accorded respect as it has its own organic life beyond that expressed in scientific terms in Western society. As a living entity, umhlaba has a character, an individuality and a persona of its own. How it is approached and dealt with is therefore informed by these ideas.
Regarding and treating umhlaba from this perspective seeks to maintain the delicate balance within the various aspects of umhlaba. The pervasive biodiversity and interrelatedness and interconnectedness among the various diverse elements is maintained. Sustainability is the needed end result. Extraction of resources is done with a view to maintaining the delicate balance and equilibrium in mind. The continued role of umhlaba in providing the needed sustenance depends on the continued existence of the delicate balance.
This has been an attempt to demonstrate that migrating from one language to another translates to fording a rugged, jagged and craggy conceptual terrain. The named world is named according to a given language that expresses ideas of its speakers in relation to their world.
What does Africa Day mean in this context? Are we not celebrating full hollowness, a total commitment to what we no longer hold dear? Africans hate themselves, laugh at themselves and run away from their past, their ancestors and their identity.
