View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Helsingin yliopiston digitaalinen arkisto Minna Saarelma-Maunumaa Department of Finnish, University of Helsinki EDHINA EKOGIDHO – NAMES AS LINKS The Encounter between African and European Anthroponymic Systems among the Ambo People in Namibia Academic dissertation to be publicly discussed, by due permission of the Faculty of Arts at the University of Helsinki in the Small Festival Hall, on the 14th of March, 2003 at 12 o’clock. ISBN 952-10-0967-5 (PDF) http://ethesis.helsinki.fi 2003 3 PREFACE “Edhina ekogidho”, the title of this book, is a common saying among the Ambos in Namibia. The noun edhina means ‘name’ and ekogidho ‘joining, connecting permanently together’. Hence, this expression means that personal names serve as links between people; they connect people together. This study on Ambo personal names also connects many people together. First of all, I would like to thank the supervisor of my thesis, Professor Emeritus Eero Kiviniemi, whose inspiring lectures on Finnish onomastics made me choose anthroponymy as my field of research. It was his encouragement that made me an onomastician. My special thanks also go to my other fellow-onomasticians in Finland – Dr. Terhi Ainiala, Professor Ritva Liisa Pitkänen, and many others – for their warm support during the various stages of my studies. I also want to express my gratitude to the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Mission and the many Finnish missionaries who have worked in Namibia for their contribution to the development of my research interests. I would especially like to thank my Ndonga teacher Ms. Lahja Lehtonen, who checked all the translations of Ambo names presented in this thesis, as well as the other Finnish missionaries whom I interviewed for my research. My special thanks also go to Ms. Riikka Halme at the University of Helsinki (Finland), Professor Adrian Koopman at the University of Natal in Pietermaritzburg (South Africa), and Professor Emeritus Anthony Davey in Pietermaritzburg, who all read the manuscript and gave many valuable comments on both language and content. In addition, I thank Professor Karsten Legère at Göteborg University (Sweden) and Professor S.J. (Bertie) Neethling at the University of the Western Cape (South Africa), who acted as pre-examiners of this thesis and gave constructive criticism. Professor Henry Fullenwider at the Language Centre of the University of Helsinki made the final revision of my English. The blame for any faults of fact or language remain mine, however. I also thank Mr. Timo Jokivartio who prepared the maps in this dissertation. Of the various institutions and people in Namibia, I must first and foremost thank the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia (ELCIN) for allowing me to utilise its parish records for this research. I also wish to thank all the Namibians whom I interviewed for this study. In particular, I would like to mention the late Hans Namuhuja, who was an excellent informant on Ndonga history and culture. I also thank Mr. Petrus Mbenzi at the University of Namibia for his co-operation, as well as the Finnish missionaries in Namibia for their assistance in many practical matters during my field work. Thanks are also due to the staff of various libraries and archives in Finland, Germany, Namibia and South Africa, e.g. the Archives of the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Mission in Helsinki (Finland), the Archives of the United Evangelical Mission in Wuppertal (Germany), 4 the Federal Archives in Berlin (Germany), the National Library of Namibia in Windhoek, the Auala ELCIN Library in Oniipa (Namibia) and the libraries of the UNISA (University of South Africa) and the HSRC (Human Sciences Research Centre) in Pretoria (South Africa). I am also grateful to many of my fellow-onomasticians in South Africa for their assistance in finding relevant articles and studies on African anthroponymy. Similarly, I owe thanks to the historians at the University of Joensuu (Finland) for helping me with the ELCIN parish register material. I would also like to express my sincere gratitude to the Finnish Cultural Foundation for the financial support which made long-term research work possible, as well as the Department of Finnish at the University of Helsinki for financing one of my research trips to Namibia and for assisting me financially with the final revision of my thesis. Finally, I wish to thank my parents, Rev. Timo Saarelma and Mrs. Katri Saarelma, as well as my sister Hanna and my two brothers Tuomas and Antti, for their continuous encouragement. Last but not least, I thank my husband Matti Maunumaa, who seemingly enjoyed the fact that his wife had an inspiring project to work on over these years. He also helped me patiently with all the computer problems that I faced in the course of my research. Vantaa, 14 February, 2003 Minna Saarelma-Maunumaa 5 ABSTRACT Edhina ekogidho – Names as links: The encounter between African and European anthroponymic systems among the Ambo people in Namibia Minna Saarelma-Maunumaa, University of Helsinki, FIN This study analyses the changes in the anthroponymic system of the Ambo people, the largest ethnic group in Namibia, caused by the Christianisation and Europeanisation of the traditional Ambo culture. The central factors in this process were the work of the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Mission (FELM) and the German and South African colonisation, beginning in 1883 when the first Ambos were baptised by the Finns and received new biblical and European names at baptism. The main sources for this study are the European missionary and colonial archives and literature dealing with the history of the Ambo area and the Ambo culture. A number of Ambos were also interviewed for this study in Namibia. The linguistic analysis of the personal names of the Ambos is based on a corpus including the baptismal names of 10,920 people from three Lutheran congregations: Elim, Okahao and Oshigambo (1913–1993). The most significant changes in the Ambo naming system are the adoption of biblical and European names, the practice of giving more than one name for a person, and the adoption of hereditary surnames. Elements of the traditional naming system have also survived in this process. Just as in the old days, Ambo children today are typically named after other people, and the role of the namesake continues to be important in the society. The old custom of giving the new-born baby an Ambo name is also preserved, as well as the practice of using Ambo nicknames (e.g. praise names). The surnames of the Ambos are also based on traditional Ambo personal names. Since the 1950s, African baptismal names have become popular, and they have often been given according to principles that are similar to those traditionally observed. Hence, the encounter of African and European naming systems led not only to the adoption of new names in the personal nomenclature of the Ambos, but also to the formation of a new “African-European” naming system that consists of both African and European elements. This revolution in the Ambo naming system was particularly rapid, as it was essentially completed within one century. 6 CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION 10 1.1. The Aims of the Study 10 1.2. Relation to Other Research Projects 12 1.3. Sources 15 1.3.1. Archive Sources and Name Data 15 1.3.2. Literature 18 1.3.3. Interviews 21 2. PERSONAL NAMES AND CULTURAL CHANGE 22 2.1. Culture, Language and Names 22 2.1.1. The Concept of Culture 22 2.1.2. Cultural Change and Culture Contact 24 2.1.3. Language and Culture 28 2.1.4. Cultural Change – Linguistic Change 29 2.1.5. Personal Names and Culture 31 2.1.6. Cultural Change – Onomastic Change 36 2.2. Developments in European Personal Naming Systems 39 2.2.1. European Naming Systems in the Pre-Christian Era 39 2.2.2. Christianity and Personal Naming 42 2.2.3. The Christianisation of Personal Names in Europe 45 2.2.4. From Bynames to Hereditary Surnames 49 2.2.5. Later Developments in European Naming Systems 52 2.3. Developments in African Personal Naming Systems 55 2.3.1. The African Concept of Name 55 2.3.2. Traditional African Naming Systems 60 2.3.3. The Influence of Christianity and Colonialism on Personal Naming in Africa 67 2.3.4. The Revival of African Names and the Adoption of Surnames 72 2.3.5. Contemporary Trends in African Name-Giving 74 3. CULTURAL CHANGE IN THE AMBO AREA OF NAMIBIA 77 3.1. Namibia, the Ambo Area and the Ambo People 77 3.1.1. Physical Environment and Population 77 3.1.2. Terminology 80 3.2. The Ambo Area in the Pre-Colonial Era 82 7 3.2.1. The Ambo Origins 82 3.2.2. Traditional Ambo Culture 84 3.3. The Colonial Era 88 3.3.1. Early Contacts with Europeans and German Colonisation 88 3.3.2. The Christianisation of the Ambo People 91 3.3.3. The Impact of Missionary Work on Traditional Ambo Culture 93 3.3.4. The South African Regime and the Years of the Independence Struggle 97 3.4. Independent Namibia 99 3.4.1. Ethnicity and National Unity 99 3.4.2. Language and Cultural Identity 101 4. DEVELOPMENTS IN THE AMBO ANTHROPONYMIC SYSTEM 105 4.1. The Traditional Ambo Naming System 105 4.1.1. Name and Person 105 4.1.2. Temporary Names 108 4.1.3. The Bestowal of the Real Name and the Confirmation of the Namesake Relationship 112 4.1.4. Reasons for Giving Names 116 4.1.5.