CLANS
CHAPTER 3 CHAPTER 3
4.2. THE PERSONAL NAMES
4.2.1. LINGUISTICS AND MORPHOLOGY OF PERSONAL NAMES
4.2.1.1. The Structure and Meaning of Personal Names of aMakhosi
(i) uMnguni I (one of the ancient stock)
The name uMnguni is derived from the stem "Nguni" (one of the ancient stock) by affixing the prefix um(u) - to form the personal name "UMnguni" or UMunguni".
Originally, the term uMnguni is used for the people of the Zulu, - Xhosa or Swazi groups which further indicates that the term is used to denote that group of the South - Eastern Bantu comprising the Zulu, Xhosa, Swazi and Ndebele clusters. The word - Nguni can refer to the - Nguni Nationality which is divided into two groups, viz, the Ntungwa Nguni family, who were a Zunda speaking group, and the Tonga - Nguni family (Lala- Nguni) who were a Tekela speaking brand. The country of the Nguni people is called
"ebuNguni", therefore, uMnguni - personal name, Ubu Nguni - Nguni nationality, ubuNguni - country of the Nguni people. To form the word "esuNguni", we have initial vowel e- of "ebuNguni" substituting initial vowel u - of "ubuNguni." (See Doke (1996 : 565).
(ii) UMthebe (dumbe tubers)
The personal name uMthebe is derived from noun stem - "thebe" (stalk / leaf) to which noun prefix um(u) - is affixed to the noun stem - "thebe" to form a complete noun
"uMthebe",or"uMuthebe" (stalk or leaf of dumbe tubers). Dumbe tubers are found in the dumbe leaves that are eaten or in the large wild "dumbe" tubers (dumbedumbe) that may not be eaten. The meaning of the personal name "uMthebe" does not shift from the meaning of the primary stem - "thebe". (See Doke 1996:788).
(iii) uVumizitha (accept enemies)
In the personal name Vumizitha, we are introduced to another phonological process which when being applied goes with a number of other phonological processes. The inputs here are the verb plus noun to form the personal noun which is a compound noun.
The fonnalised structure is a follows:
VERB++NOUN
vum(a) (accept)+izitha (enemies) vum¢ + +izitha
vum- + +izitha Vumizitha
In the above structure, it looks as though, we could apply vowel coalescence becaus~ of the ultimate vowel' -a" of "vuma" and initial vowel "i" of the noun prefix "izi-" (C1.8), But the ultimate fonnation would be Vumezitha which is not morphophonologically cor- rect. We, therefore, deleted UN -"a" of the verb - 'vuma" and maintained the initial vowel" i -"of the noun prefix "izi -" so that the ultimate derivation would be Vumizitha (accept enemies) and this is linguistically correct. (See also Doke 1996:841 & 780).
(iv) uShangase (the rover)
The addition of the suffix "-se" to some stems to fonn personal names is indicated by Doke (1927:72). The name Shangase is derived from the ideophonic stem "shanga" (of wandering about) by simply adding, the suffix "-se" to the ideophonic stem shanga." (of wandering about). The primary meaning of the ideophonic stem "shanga" does not change with the attachment of the suffix "-se" to fonn the personal name "Shangase"
(wanderer, rover). The denominative verb"shangaza" (wander about) is also formed by adding the denominative non-productive extension "-z-". therefore, both the name
"Shangase" and the verb "shangaza" maintains the primary meaning of the original ideo- phonic stem shanga". Furthermore, the same is applied to the above ideophonic stem
"shanga" when it is reduplicated to become a diminutive verb "Shangashanga" (to wan- der about a little) maintains but reduces the primary meaning. Shangase (2001: 130) indicates that most deviations from ideophones and verbs also involve reduplication, while Doke (1927:148) has claimed that reduplication can be used to imply a narrowing or diminition of meaning of the original stem.
The linguistic formalised structure of the personal name u(u) Shangase stands as follows:
NP+ IR+UV+ SUF u- +shang + a+-se
u - + -shanga + -a- + -se UShangase (rover)
(v) uMkheshane (one who takes a quick peep)
Shangase's name is "uMkheshane" which IS derived from the ideophonic stem -"kheshe" (of taking a quick peep). the noun prefix "u-"- is prefixed to the ideo- phonic stem "-kheshe" to form the personal name "UMkheshane" after the suffix - ana is attached and the vowel - u - of the basic prefix -m(u) - is deleted. The ultimate vowel -a of suffix - ana is substituted by ultimate vowel -e. so that the personal name stands as "UMkheshane". This deleted vowel -u- of basic prefix - m(u) is latent and evolutive for if one wants to bring it back, it is very well used to make the basic prefix complete. (See also Doke 1996:390).
(vi) uGusha (merino sheep)
UGusha is the personal name derived from the noun "i(li)gusha" (merino sheep), where the basic prefix - Ii - of class 5 is deleted to form uGusha (class 1a). The covert compound prefix u(li)- in its underlying structure, is utili> uili.
The initial vowel is-substitute d by noun prefix u - The basic prefix - li- is deleted to form a compound noun prefix u(Ii) - where eventually the compound noun prefix becomes covert compound noun prefix u - (class 1a), hence the personal name
"uGusha"which means the merino sheep. (See Doke 1996:279).
(vii) uNdaleka (one who was created)
UNdaleka is one personal name whose derivation and meaning is an assumption of what we believe is correct about it. The name uNdaleka is derived from the verb stem - "dala"
(create), to which a productive neuter verbal extension - ek - is attached to form an extended verb stem - "daleka". the voiced alveolar explosive "-d-" is nasalised to form the new sound "-nd" - and lastly the new lexeme "ndaleka" is derived, from which the personal name u Ndaleka is formed. UNdaleka refers to creation or origin or that which is created "indalo" (creation). (See Shangase 2001:47&48 and Doke 1927:6)
(viii) uMajola (hemp. pipe smoker)
Onto the verb stem "-jola" which means passing the smoke and water through a hollow reed to the ground, the prefix referred to as an extra morpheme (Xala 1996:92) is pre- fixed to verbs indicating the person who habitually acts according to the verb, ego uMajola (one who passes the smoke through the hollow reed), uMahamba (one who is always walking), uMahleka (one who is always laughing). The u-class of a classifier is prefixed before the' -ma-" to make a verb stem "-jola" a personal noun. The tonal char- acter of the personal name might change the meaning of the personal name "uMajola".
As it is derived from the verb stem -"-jola". (See also Doke 1927:40, Ziervogel1985:31 and Doke 1996:136,297 & 363). But, Xala (1996:93) says that the shift of category [+
verb] to category [+ noun] introduces this "-ma-' to denote [perfective] which was found in the verb stem "-jola". He further states that the non-perfective verb loses the status of the verb to that of a noun retaining the [- perfective] feature. The sequence of a simple noun prefix "u-" and the extra morpheme "-ma-" forms a complex noun prefix uma - as in "uMajola".
The personal name 'uMajola" depicts the old cultural custom of dagga - smoking using a hemp-pipe or hemp - hom (igudu). The dish of the hemp-pipe is filled with water so that when smoking the dagga smoke goes through the dish full of water to the mouth.
The water purifies the smoke to avoid nicotine (isaja). The nicotine was thus used for the planning and drawing of ways that would be followed by their army when attacking or attacked by enemies. This practice is undertaken in the guest hut (ilawu) on a fine floor which is polished by a mixture of suet (unwali) and cattle dung (ubulongwe). The process is called "ukujola" (smoke hemp by mixing the smoke with water held in the mouth, passing the smoke and water through a hollow reed to the ground).
(See Doke 1996:273,451,612).
(ix) uMntuyedwa (the only person)
UMntuyedwa [ef uMntiyedwa] is a compound noun with the following inputs:
NOUN ± QUANTITATIVE PRONOUN - COMPOUND NAME
um(u)ntu + yedwa umlZintu + yedwa
um-ntu + yedwa
=
uMntuyedwaNOUN ± QUANTITATIVE PRONOUN
=
- COMPOUND NAMEum(u)ntu + yedwa
IZi
umlZinti + yedwa
um-nti + yedwa
=
uMntiyedwaThere are three morphophonological processes that had occurred in the structures above. VIZ: Compounding - the noun and the quantitative pronoun are compounded together to form one word ego umuntu + yedwa - uMuntuyedwa.
Deletion - to take any morpheme or part morpheme from the word ego "-u-" of basic noun prefix is deleted and that is called temporary evolutive.
Substitution - this is where a morpheme or part morphine is replaced ego the ultimate vowel (UV) "_u" of the noun "umuntu" is replaced or substituted by UV - "i".
Significantly, the name refers to the person who is the only child at home.
"Mkheshane" named his fourth son "Mntuyedwa" because he was alone among a very big Ngcobo clan established far before he could do so to his Shangase clan.
The idea of compounding and application of phonological processes is supported by Katamba (1993:292) where he says that although we are primarily interested in the syntactic aspects of compounds, we will not overlook altogether the role of phonology in compounding. In English, Katamba (1993:292) refers to' English compounds which are formed by joining together pre-existing words that rhyme such as: Black-jack, clap- trap, night-light etc., whereas in Zulu, rhyme is not an issue. Koopman (1979a:76) states that the compound names, thus, reflect a functional relationship between the compounded elements in their surface structure, whereas the compound nouns represent a transformation of the basic structure relationship between the compounded elements, for example: