The Sunday News
Pathisa Nyathi
A KNOWN world, is a named world. Thus the extent of a named world is a measure of how much a particular community knows about their environment, both terrestrial and cosmic. A known world belongs to and is an integral part of the cultural world of a particular community. The length and breadth of the known world embraces all the cultural aspects of a people which are an important resource with which a community faces the world. This is true of trees, plants and grasses, that is the flora in its broadest sense.
Language is in the frontline of that naming, It is evidence of the known and named world. Language is used to name the world, an active world which is captured through folktales, rituals and proverbs of the people. When a language of the named world is no longer understood or known or meaningful so as to make sense in the present, that is a measure of the extent the named world has become or is becoming extinct. When names are no longer meaningful, the language has become redundant and the names have lost meaning. This is very common. A look at the names, not only of the flora, but both flora and fauna reveal how much language is being lost.
Reference to some names may illustrate the point we are trying to make here. There is a folktale that makes reference to umdlewadlewane. What remains of that name to most of us are aural renditions without meaning. Once upon a time the word had meaning, relevance and interpretation. Over time words lose meaning and exit the active world of understood language. New words emerge and over time they too begin to lose meaning. Some words may be familiar but devoid of meaning. There is a common tree known as umdlandlovu. Clearly, there are two words that constitute the complex and compound word: –dla, meaning to eat and indlovu, referring to the elephant. Meaning comes when the two words in their combination continue to be meaningful. In this particular case, the meaning has since been lost, at least to some of us.
There is a tree known as umqobampunzi. Once again, the compound word consists of qoba, to cut up and impunzi a duiker, but in their combination the meaning may have been lost to some of us. Aural rendition devoid of meaning may be all that remains. Meaning resident in words is lost over time. Words are mouthed but their meanings are completely lost. This is particularly so of a language that lives in the shadow of another. IsiNdebele lives under the shadows of two more active language, English and IsiZulu.
The picture may not be as gloomy as we are presenting it. Let’s take the example of a plant called icitshamlilo. Literally, the name translates to fire extinguisher. Those familiar with traditional medical practice will know that the plant is used in healing wounds. There is a whole interesting world in the crafting of the name. The name is couched in IsiNdebele and more importantly its belief and philosophical nuances. A look at the plant will reveal that its roots are thick and succulent. The water content in the roots is high. As we know, water is a coolant. It will extinguish a fire. We are thus back to the world of African symbolism.
The African world of medical practice draws on a people’s worldview. A wound caused by a fire requires extinguishing, as it were. Plant extract from icitshamlilo puts out the fire and, in the process, there is healing. Just as we have often said, a plant’s efficacy is not reliant on its chemical composition. There is a another whole world that works on symbolism that is meaningless to a different or scientific world. What we are thus able to deduce from the tradition of naming is that names sometimes derive from the medically symbolic qualities of a given tree or plant.
A tree is named ichithamuzi, meaning it, in a literal sense, destroys a home. This should not be taken in a literal sense. The destruction that is referred to here is one of social collapse or antagonism among family members. As a result, the tree is never harvested for firewood. Where firewood is scarce ichithamuzi will survive as a result of a strong meaning associated with it. It has been observed that the tree has been conserved in the northern outskirts of Bulawayo where demand for firewood is high, particularly these days when electricity is intermittently available. The world of beliefs is closely related to naming and conservation.
In the same area where ichithamuzi has been conserved just north of Bulawayo, across Umguza River, umphafa or umlahlabantu has been conserved. The said tree is one that is associated with burial ritual practices. When the body of a deceased person has been interred, a branch of umphafa tree, which is thorny is brought and placed on the grave. It is its association with burial rituals that have saved and conserved the tree. In the first instance, the other name for the tree is umlahlabantu in addition to it being named umphafa. The name gives a direct link with burial, a phenomenon that is never welcome. Therefore, to harvest firewood from such a tree is understood to court death. Who would, in their right sense of mind, do that? Association with death has thus saved the plant even under adverse conditions. These are ideas that those interested in the conservation of natural resources need to bear in mind and apply. Within the world of traditional beliefs there is scope for deriving conservation strategies. This is true also with regard to totemic names. It’s just the narrative that requires building and strengthening
We could do well to bring in yet another tree whose name brings out its characteristic, one that results in it being conserved. The name of the tree implies decay, hence its name is umbola, the rotting tree or one that may be used to induce decay which ought to be understood within the context of failed efforts. A state of decay is one that negates success. What is termed solar or lunar eclipse is regarded as decay among the Ndebele and indeed other African peoples. It is a state that is interpreted as signifying or portending failure, disaster or just the absence of success. African soldiers in battle are known to have frozen into inactivity when such cosmic phenomena do occur. Language and naming are here being viewed as underpinning some belief which lies behind observed human behaviour.
What we may observe from the few examples we have given above, is that some perceived behaviour associated with a tree may result in how it enters the world of belief, something that may serve, conserve or lead to over exploitation of a resource depending on how the tree or plant has entered the world of cultural usages of a particular people. The names given to such trees are the front line in the expected and resulting manner in which the trees or plants are utilised. Meaning that is culturally rendered and attached goes a long way towards informing human behaviour vis a vis a given tree/plant or specimen of fauna.
