IslasEnglishSeptiembre2008 9/23/08 11:33 AM Page 51 Linguistics Bantu Survival in the Cuban “Lengua de Mayombe”

William W. Megenney Professor, University of California, Riverside U.S.A.

t 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 I 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, (lucumí or anagó in Cuba), the Efik (carabalí many of which are entirely transparent, some or Ibibio, also known as abakuá or brícamos of which are partially transparent, and some in Cuba), and the Ewe/Fon (arará in 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 monte and in the regla de mayombe developed 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 ISLAS 51 IslasEnglishSeptiembre2008 9/23/08 11:33 AM Page 52

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 palera in 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 monte cults), 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 Tata as 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 congo or 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.12 A 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 (ñáñigo or brícamos in 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 baka sala / embere koto / 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,‘we leave.’ 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,17 mayombe is ‘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 mayombe religion 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 rancheadores18 became 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.’ Mayombe is 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 karire in 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 > carire would 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.24 The 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.26 Nzambi is 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; fundamento of 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 é in 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 cazuela is a refer- from kiKongo Nzámbi. The other parts of ence to the nganga or 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, dadero with 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- kimenga in kiKongo is ‘sacrifice.’According course.’ Could this equal entendederas? to the context, kutunga should mean Guisa could 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 congo here 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 originally kiriyumba. 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 kuenda see #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 kiKongo yaaya (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 mayomberos and 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 mayombe came 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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Angola). This finding coincides with the research, especially regarding the palenquero data collected by González García & Valdés creole language of Colombia, also heavily Acosta35 for their article on Bantu traces in influenced by kiKongo.38 Cuba, where they found “la gran mayoría”of Regarding the morphosyntax of the lexical elements to be of kiKongo ori- central Cuban “Bantu,” alternate forms of gin.36 In our study, the one totally “transpar- words with and without prenasalization were ent” example of kiMbundu, i.e., wanga found in the 1978 study, as in the tata kuyere ‘witchcraft,’ and the other “transparent” nkisi interviews, which purportedly points kiMbundu examples, which also have to the loss of the original Bantu meaning of kiKongo sources, prove that the kiMbundu word-initial [N-]. In addition, pluralizing were also present and accounted for even Bantu prefixes (e.g., mu-, ma-) have lost their though they may not have been numerically meaning (as in palenquero creole mangombe, dominant. The few examples of non Bantu for example, the plural of ‘cow’). Two prefix- words as possible sources may be the result of es, kuna- and muna-, ‘toward’in Bantu lan- recent mixing or some kind of cross-fertiliza- guages, were found in central Cuba, but only tion between the regla de mayombe people muna- appears in the tata data, twice, with- and the santería people. One would have to out the correct gloss in one instance and with conduct in-depth interviews with the mem- no gloss in the other example. Also, examples bers of both organizations to discover the of words of kiKongo origin with opposite answer. meanings of the African kiKongo words were As concerns the mayombe language in found in both sets of data. This phenomenon the context of the interviews conducted by is, of course, linguistically universal in González García, we may immediately note diachronic settings (e.g., Germanic selig that this language has been “reduced” to a ‘blessed’> English silly). series of utterances which do not correspond González García & Valdés Acosta39 entirely to the original Bantu language point to the phenomenon of fossilization of structure which was transported to Cuba in words at the semantic level, whereby in com- the colonial period by the bozal slaves. There binations of two words forming a compound are only remnants of Bantu structure, some one of the words has lost its meaning, e.g., of which González García and Valdés malafo ‘liquor,’ and malafo mayuma, malafo Acosta37 have already given us a small synthe- mamputo, also ‘liquor.’ Malafo appears in the sis with regard to the phonetic, mor- tata data, but not the other two expressions. phosyntatic, and lexical features present in In fact, in the one case where we find com- the central region of Cuba. Although we do pound expressions of two words, we do not not have access to the oral renditions of have fossilization, since the accompanying González García’s interviews, we may note word does supply additional meaning, i.e., some parallels in the findings of these inter- lango ‘water,’ lango chola ‘river water,’ lango views with the phonetic traits mentioned in kalunga‘sea water,’lango sambe‘holy water,’ the 1978 study. For example, the persistence and lango kasusa‘river.’ of word-initial prenasalized consonants (i.e., Another Bantu trait mentioned in mp-, np, nt-, nk-, mb-, nd-, ng-, nf-, ns-; ny- the 1978 article involves two suffixes, -ame is no doubt [ñ]) is a definite sub-Saharan and –aku, ‘my’and ‘your,’respectively. In the trait which other scholars have noted in past tata interviews, we find kiako ‘quiet, still,’

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kinsiako‘sacred prenda,’and kuame‘rest.’ As Notes: we have noted, kinsiako may come from a 1. Hippolyte Brice Sogbossi published an interesting combination of morphemes one of which book on the Ewe/Fon tradition in Cuba, La tradición may be the –aku suffix mentioned here. Ewé/fon en Cuba (Alcalá de Henares: Fundación Fernando Ortiz, 1988), which contains a well document- Kuame could be a yet unidentified ku plus ed account of the arará oral traditions and a good analy- –ame, although we have no proof. KiKongo sis of examples of songs and prayers from Benin. does have kú‘to die ( = rest[?]) suddenly’in 2. Laman, K.E. Dictionnaire kikongo-français (Brussels: the phrase na kú or fwa na kú. Librairie Falk fils., 1936): 514. From these observations and a few com- 3. Schwegler, Armin. “On the (sensational) survival of Kikongo in 20th-century Cuba.”Journal of Pidgin and parisons with the González García /Valdés Creole Languages 15:1 (2000): 159-165. Acosta article, we may note that the lengua 4. Cabrera, Lydia. El monte (Miami: Ediciones Universal, congo or lengua mayombe of Cuba has sur- 1975). vived to a point, having undergone some 5. Schwegler, Armin. Chi ma nkongo: Lengua y rito ancestrales en El Palenque de San Basilio (Colombia). 2 major changes while retaining certain words vols (Frankfurt/Madrid: Vervuert Verlag, 1996); virtually as they appear in kiKongo (or Schwegler, Armin “El vocabulario africano de Palenque kiMbundu) as well as a few morphemes, (Colombia). Segunda Parte: compendio de palabras (con albeit without their original meanings, as etimologías),”in L. Ortiz (ed.) El Caribe hispánico: per- fossilized utterances. Future studies should spectivas lingüísticas actuales [Homenaje a Manuel Álvarez Nazario] (Frankfurt/Madrid: Vervuert Verlag, concentrate on comparisons of Bantu mate- 1999): 171-253. rials in data collected from other areas in 6. Granda, Germán de. “Materiales para el estudio Latin America where pockets of Bantu data sociohistórico de los elementos lingüísticos remain alive and well. Such studies should afroamericanos en el área hispánica.” Thesaurus XXIII: 3 (1968): 547-73; yield valuable information regarding the Granda, Germán de. “Materiales léxicos para la slave trade and its linguistic and socio-reli- determinación de la matriz africana de la «lengua gious impacts on certain Latin American congo» de Cuba.”Revista española de lingüística 3:1 societies. (1988): 55-79; Granda, Germán de. Lingüística e historia (Valladolid: Universidad de Valladolid, 1988); González García, José and Gema Valdés Acosta. “Restos de lenguas bantúes en la región cen- tral de Cuba.”Islas 59 (1978): 3-50; Fuentes, Jesús and Grisel Gómez. Cultos afrocubanos: un estudio etnolingüístico (Buenos Aires: Pinos Nuevos, 1994). 7. Megenney, William. A Bahian Heritage (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1978). 8.González García, Rigoberto. “Tata kuyere nkisi, el rey de los espíritus.”Del Caribe 33 (2000): 110-116. 9. To my knowledge, this glossary has not been pub- lished. It has not appeared in any of the issues of Del Caribe subsequent to Number 33, 2000. 10. Laman, K.E. Op. Cit. 11. Silva Maia, Padre António da. Dicionário comple- mentar português-kiMbundu-kiKongo (línguas nativas do centro e norte de Angola) (Vila da Feira (Portugal): Empresa Gráfica Feirense, Lda., 1964). 12. Bolívar Aróstegui, Natalia and Carmen González Díaz de Villegas. Ta Makuende Yaya y las reglas de Palo Monte (Havana: Ediciones Unión, 1988).

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13. In some cases the correspondence will be perfect 27. Coachy, Lucien Georges. Vodú,brujería y folklore en Haití except for some phonotactic changes (e.g., paragoge, (México: Costa-Amic Editores, S.A., 1989): 134-139. apocope, etc.) or in cases of substitutions of phonemes of 28. The liquids ([r] and [l]) are often interchanged freely the same subclassification (e.g., liquids) or of overlap- in many Bantu languages, being either archiphonemes or ping distinctive features. allophones of the same phoneme. 14. The diacritic marks over the African words, which in 29. Stapleton, Walter. Comparative handbook of Congo the sub-Saharan orthographies represent tones, have languages (Yakusu, Congo: Stanley Falls, 1903): 94. been omitted due to type setting difficulties. The only dia- 30. Cabrera, Lydia. Anagó: vocabulario lucumí (Miami: critic appearing here is the acute, which equals high tone. Chiherekú, 1970): 90. Also, the alveopalatal affricate has been designated as ‘ch.’ 31. The word palo meaning ‘tree,’ used mostly in 15. /s/ in Spanish may be realized as [z] variably only Caribbean Spanish, is a calque of expressions in several before a nasal consonant. African languages and owes its usage to this sub-Saharan 16. Laman, K.E. Op. Cit. 490. influence. 17. Bolívar Aróstegui, Natalia. Op Cit. 39. 32. Cabrera, Lydia. 1970, Op. Cit. 18. For a good description of the perils brought about 33. Sogbossi, Hippolyte Brice. Op. Cit. by the rancheadores or ranchadores, see Pedro José 34. Even so, there are sub-Saharan retentions in Morillas’ novel El ranchador (1856). Francisco Venezuela today, especially in the area called Barlovento, Calcagno, in his Romualdo, uno de tantos, also gives us as well as the south-eastern part of Lake Maracaibo, in a trustworthy picture of the physical and psychological and around the town of Bobures (see Megenney, William. torments of the maroon communities in Cuba during Aspectos del lenguaje afronegroide en Venezuela (Madrid: the colonial period. Vervuert Iberoamericana, 1999). 19. According to Fuentes & Gómez (Op. Cit. 14, 15, 35. González García, José and Gema Valdés Acosta. Op. 25) the term nganga comes from the proto Bantu nyan- cit: 16 ga, which means ‘horn.’African doctors (yerberos) are in 36. Germán de Granda, in several of his studies on Bantu the habit of using recepticles made from the horns of influences in the Americas, including the one mentioned cervids; they are used to store medicinal powders, by González García & Valdés Acosta (Op. Cit. 8) (Granda drinks, ointments, etc. Another name for the nganga in 1968, Op. Cit. 571-3), also emphasizes the relatively large Cuba is prenda. Bolívar Aróstegui & Díaz de Villegas number of kiKongo words present in sociolinguistic (Op. Cit. 166) describe nganga as “prenda, nfumbe, nuclei of Afro-Latin-Americans. Schwegler, as we have cazuela habitáculo de un espíritu.” mentioned, also remarks about this phenomenon. 20. See Díaz Fabelo, Teodoro. Diccionario de la lengua 37. González García, José and Gema Valdés Acosta. Op. conga residual en Cuba (Santiago de Cuba: Universidad Cit. 3-50 de Alcalá de Henares & La Casa del Caribe, 1998): 114- 38. Schwegler, Armin. 1996. Op. Cit. 234; Granda, 123, for definitions of ngana and its derivatives, nganga Germán de. “Retenciones africanas en el nivel fonético del mundumba, ngangulero. criollo palenquero,” in Español de América, español de 21. Laman, K.E. Op. Cit. 514. África y hablas criollas hispánicas (Madrid: Editorial 22. The word nkísi is ‘fetish, sorcery, magic force, charm, Gredos, 1994): 402-403. some malady attributed to witchcraft.’ The word 39. González García, José and Gema Valdés Acosta. Op. myansakulu, which appears in the Laman dictionary as Cit. 26. nkisi myansakulu, is not defined or explained. 23. Lipski, John M. “Golden Age ‘black Spanish’: exis- Other Sources: tence and coexistence.” Afro-Hispanic Review 5: 1-2 Perl, Matthias. “Rasgos poscriollos léxicos en el lenguaje (1968): 7-12. coloquial cubano,” Thesaurus 43 (1988): 47-64. 24. Castellanos, Isabel. Eleguá quiere tambó: cosmovisión Schwegler, Armin. “El vocabulario (ritual) bantú de religiosa afrocubana en las canciones populares (Cali, Cuba (Parte I), Acerca de la matriz africana de la ‘lengua Colombia: Universidad del Valle (Pliegos), 1983): 30. congo,’en El monte y Vocabulario congo de Lydia Cabrera. 25. Megenney, William. A Bahian Heritage (Chapel Hill: América Negra 15 (1998): 137-185. University of North Carolina Press, 1978): 156. Schwegler, Armin. “El vocabulario (ritual) bantú de 26. Megenney, William. África en Santo Domingo: su Cuba (Parte II: Apéndices 1-2).”Manuscrito. (No date). herencia lingüística (Santo Domingo: Editorial Tiempo Williamson, Kay (ed.) Igbo-English Dictionary, based on (Museo del Hombre Dominicano & Academia de Ciencias the Onitsha dialect (Benin City, Nigeria: Ethiope de la República Dominicana), 1990): 204. Publishing Corporation, 1972).

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