This explains the truly amazing fact that in various languages of the world, territorially very distant and not related to each other, we find similar words denoting the same or similar concepts. For example, in various African languages there is a similar name for a bull, cow or buffalo: the ancient Egyptian "ka" (bull) and kaut (cow), the Coptic "ko" (bull), the Amharic gos (buffalo), the Arabic gamus or jamis (buffalo) and gamal or jamal (camel), Hottentot goma-s (cow) and goma-b (ox). According to the studies of the British linguists M. Guthrie and D. Dolby, in the ancient Bantu and Proto-Bantu dialects the names of bulls and wild buffaloes were gombo, gombe, ngombe. (bull), which is also found in the languages of the Herero (Namibia), the Bantu of Southern Angola, Tonga in the Zambezi Valley; Bechuan ngomo; in the Bubi language of Fernando Po, nkoro (bull); Zulu i-nkomo, i-nkabi (ox) and i-nkomazi (cow). Apparently, words of the same root are also found in western Africa - in the Bantu languages of Cameroon: Yaounde naga (bull), Duala naka (bull), ancient Egyptian neg, nega and Cushitic "nagu" with the same meaning (in the Oromo language in Ethiopia in the meaning of "bull"), nagge (cow) in the Fulbe language; Songhai hau (cow), as well as ligume, goni (camel) in the languages of Central Sudan, etc.
The word was first attested in the monuments of the Sumerian language of the 3rd millennium - ngud, gu. The same term is found in ancient Indo-European languages: Sanskrit hauh, Old Iranian haus, Latvian govs (cow), Slavic "beef" (hence - beef). In the east, it penetrated to Tibet, Burma and South China (ngejeu, ngu, ngo, gu, go, etc. in the Tibeto-Burmese languages), in the northwest - to the Germanic countries (German Kuh, English cow, Dutch ' koe", Danish and Swedish "Ko", Norwegian ku (cow), etc.).
At the present level of our knowledge, we can trace the gradual transformation of the oldest Indo-European gau, say, into "koe" of the Afrikaans language or into the corresponding term in one of the Tibeto-Burmese languages, but we are not yet able to do the same with Hottentot or Bantu words that are outwardly consonant with the Sumerian ngud, gu and with the Indo-European gau, and thereby prove their relationship.
Much the same is true of migration terms for metals. African languages contain many words for metals, clearly borrowed during the Middle Ages and in modern times from such languages as Arabic, Portuguese, English and French. But in this group of terms there are also more ancient aliens. Among the oldest names of metals in the Middle East and the Mediterranean, we find the roots wrd, bz1, hm, etc.
Urudu, the Sumerian word for copper, comes from the first of these. The same Root is found in Latin in the forms raudus, rudus (a piece of copper), in Slavic "ore", in German Erz (ore, copper, bronze). The Phoenician haras (gold, copper) is as cognate with this term as are the Arabic warq or wurq (silver coins), the Old Ethiopic worq (gold) and derived from the latter word with the same meaning in modern Ethiopian languages. However, the German orientalist M. Reinisch considered the word worq of the Geez language (ancient Ethiopian) borrowed from the ancient Cushitic wanq with the same meaning. This is where apso (gold) comes from in a number of Cushitic languages of Ethiopia, aso in the Kafa language, etc.
Close to Phoenician are the Latin words aes (copper, bronze, copper ore, copper coin), aereum (copper coin) and aurum (gold), aureus (gold and gold coins), from where the French og (gold), Italian ogafo (goldsmith ), Scandinavian oge, ǿge (ere, coin).
The Phoenician word baras was borrowed by the Berbers and possibly by the peoples of ancient Senegal, who spoke the languages of the "Atlantic Banthoid" group. It occurs in the form urus in the languages of Jolof, Serer, Diola and means "gold". Among the Berbers, the word for gold sounds like urerh or ureg in susek, urar in Mzab, "ura," ur and in Zenaga dialects, urer, uror, ura in dialects of the Tomashki language (Tuareg language). From the Berbers, this term migrated to the peoples of Western Sudan: ura in the Songhai language, wari in the Senufo language, wulo in the Gurma, wore, wori, woli, wodi, waru, wale, wali1 in the Dendi, Bariba, Bozo, Mandingo languages, including in the Bambara or Bamana dialect, Dyalonke, Gurunsi, Dagari, Kulango, Kisi, Gerze, Kotakoli, and also in the Yoruba language. In the form wale, the word is attested in Sarakole, one of the oldest languages in this part of Africa, but with the meaning "copper" and not "gold" as in the other languages of Western Sudan and Western Nigeria.
The ancient Semitic root for metal, brzl, may contain the Sumerian word urudu as the first three consonants of the stem. The Akkadian, Phoenician, and Hebrew brzl and the Old Arabic frzl with the same meaning are derived from this root. Apparently, the archaic Latin ferzo [d] also goes back to the Phoenician brzl, from which the classical Latin ferrum and the corresponding words in the Romance languages originated.
The root brzl, slightly modified, sounds in the following words with the same meaning: Arabic birunz, Slavic "bronze", Italian bronzo, English, French, German, Dutch, Flemish bronze, English brass (brass), etc. The same root is ancient Armenian birinz, modern psindz and borrowed from Armenian, Udi pilinz (copper), Georgian pilindzi (copper) and prindjao (bronze).
This word also penetrated into Africa. In the Berber-Punic bilingual from Dugga (c. 150), iron is designated in the Punic text by the term brzl, and in the Berber text by the term zl derived from it. Words with the meaning "iron" in modern Berber languages go back to the latter: uzzal in susek, Mzab, Judeo-Berber, Nephus, Sened; uzzej in the Zenaga dialect of South Mauritania; tazuli, zoali in dialects of the Tomashki language. According to the well-known French Africanist R. Moni, words with the same meaning in a number of languages of Central Sahara and Central Sudan also go back to the Berber name for iron: asobo (iron) and gezzer (tin) in the Teda language (at Tibu), assu at Daza, siu for kanuri, su for kotoko, sissu for bariba, aso for jakun, etc. The origin of the name of copper among the Gerze of Upper Guinea (Laga) is not clear, but it goes back to the English brass rather than to the Punic barzel.
Another variant of the same root is found in Ancient Egyptian brj and Coptic barot (bronze), Ancient Ethiopian byrt and byrur (iron, silver and bronze), Amharic byret (iron), and also bartat (strength, firmness, courage), in dialect hamir of the Agau language birit, in Afar birta, in kunama bida, in the Kullo dialect of Ometo bereta, in Gonga birto, in Kafa birato, in Somali - birr (all meaning "iron", as well as a number of similar words in other Cushitic languages), as well as Amharic byrr (silver, thaler).
Ancient Egyptian word hm-t; (iron), apparently of the same origin with the roots yuma (options: pita, bumba) and jembe (options: huma, humba, etc.), which are found in many languages of Tropical Africa and from which words with the meaning "iron" are formed , "metal", "hoe", "money", etc. For example, the gall of Ethiopia has iron - sibila, the Swahili and other Bantu of East Africa - jembe, the Bantu of South Africa - simbi, etc. In the Proto-Bantu language, yuma meant "iron", "thing", "personal belonging", and jembe or gembe meant "iron" or "hoe". The root jembe (variants: gembe, sumbe, etc.) is also found in the languages of Central Africa; some of its variants have similarities with the above word sobo (iron) in Teda and sui in Kanuri. Or is it just a "resemblance"?
It is striking that in the Kikuba language (the former kingdom of Bushongo in Zaire), iron is called jimbi (from the Egyptian hm) in common speech, and bolo (from the Egyptian brj) in the secret slang of blacksmiths.
In the Ethiopian languages, we also find another word for iron, iron weapons: in Kaf -turo, in ancient Ethiopian - sor, in Amharic - tsor (spear, weapons). This word (tare, tale) in the meaning of "iron" is found in a number of Bantu languages. The English linguists M. Guthrie and D. Dolby established the sound of an ancient root in the Proto-Bantu language - tabe, close to tag and meaning "stone", "iron ore", "iron", "bloom iron", etc.
Silver appeared in the Sahara and Tropical Africa relatively late. It is known that for the first time only the Romans began to develop the silver ores of the Maghreb, and in the Nubian desert, silver, which was found as an admixture with gold, was either not taken into account by the ancient Egyptian jewelers, or was removed as waste when gold was refined from impurities (in the late period). Therefore, there are few original terms for silver in African languages. Sometimes it is called "white gold", sometimes by words derived from the name of monetary units, or by terms originally applied to other metals, like the Amharic Lyrr.
In the Sahara and Central Sudan, the name of silver is clearly of Phoenician origin, originating from the Punic kasaph (silver): Berber (Mzab, Tuareg, Zenaga, etc.) azerfa, Songhai azurfu, Hausan azurfa, also borrowed by their southern neighbors - nupe, kurfei, dandi and etc., in the languages of the Gur group: Moro wazurfu, Gurma adyulfa, Khvari azumpa.
Similar words are found in other parts of Africa, as well as beyond its borders, but, not knowing their real origin, we should not embark on the very wrong path of bringing words of different languages closer together only by their external similarity. Thus, the Russian word "copper" is similar to the Amharic medab, which has the same meaning, but a completely different origin. The word aso in the Kafa language (Western Cushitic group) sounds very similar to the azo of the Jakun of Nigeria; their meanings are also similar, the first means "gold", the second - "iron"; the Kafic word aso resembles acin (iron) in the Hamir language (both in Ethiopia). But aso seems to be derived from the ancient Cushite wanq, acin from the ancient Semitic hasin, and aso from the ancient Libyan zl, descending from the Punic barzel.
The well-known Soviet linguist V.V. Ivanov traced the distribution in Africa and Eurasia of the ancient root reg in the meanings of "house", "palace", "city". The first two meanings seem to be the oldest, known, on the one hand, in the Hittite and related Anatolian languages, as well as in Hurrian and Kassite, and on the other hand, in ancient Egyptian. In other Indo-European languages, this word took on the meanings of "fortress", "city". So, the well-known Greek word πολίς, Avestan pur (compare the city of Nishapur in Iran), Sanskrit pura, Lithuanian pilis (fortress), Latgalian pils (fortress, city, compare Daugavpils, or Dvinsk), etc. In the ancient Egyptian language, a close meaning The term pr appeared during the period of the New Kingdom, when the residence of the pharaohs Per-Ramesses was built. In the Hausa language there is a word of the same root birni, similar in sound to a series of Anatolian words with the meaning "house", "palace" (Lydian bira, Luwian and Hittite parn-, as well as Hurrian purni, purli and Kassite purna), but with the meanings " wall", "city wall", "walled city", "state capital". V.V. Ivanov, analyzing the origin of this Hausan word, refers it to "the most archaic type of migratory terms", as the Russian linguist E.D. Polivanov understood this phenomenon. The latter singled out a class of ancient terms such as "horse" and defined it as follows: "A migration term that spread, however, at such a distant time that within the same language family it is permissible to attribute to it (with certain reservations) a proto-linguistic character" .
"Migration terms", like other elements of information, spread from the centers of civilization to their periphery. In ancient times, the main center of civilization on the African continent was Egypt, where already in the 3rd millennium the first class society and state in Africa existed.
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Afrikaans (also known as Boer) is the official language of South Africa and many other South African countries. The total number of speakers of it is about 10 million people. Often we come across dictionaries from widely used European languages, global ones. You can find many online translators from world languages. But if you require translation from Afrikaans? The Internet service of the Central Translation Company will help you, where even the rarest online translators are collected. Our free Afrikaans translator into Russian is an indispensable assistant if you need a translation of texts that does not require perfect style. An urgent and high-quality translation from Afrikaans will provide you with an easy perception of any voluminous text or complex phrase.
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The specific features of Afrikaans probably developed by the end of the 17th century in the Cape Colony. During the XVIII and the first half of the XIX centuries. Afrikaans functioned only as a spoken language, except for errors made by the Boers in the texts in the Dutch language. The basis for Afrikaans was mainly the dialect of South Holland, however, the influence of the Flemish dialect can also be traced: for example, the adjective suffix -lijk does not correspond to the expected -lyk, but -lik, which is also characteristic of the dialects of Flanders. In addition, there is undoubtedly the influence of the Malay language, Portuguese and Creole, used in the Dutch East Indies (from where slaves were brought to the Cape Colony) and various jargons and pidgins based on Dutch dialects used among sailors. With the formation of South Africa in 1910, Afrikaans did not yet become the official language of the country (at that time, along with English, it still remained Dutch) and only in 1925 was fixed as the state language of South Africa (now South Africa). During the apartheid era, the role of Afrikaans as the only national language of South Africa was emphasized in every possible way, teaching it was mandatory.
Afrikaans is spoken by the descendants of colonists in South Africa. The language was much less influenced by civilization and due to this it retained a certain archaism, it contains features of the ancient Flemish dialects. The ancestors of the Boers and Afrikaners landed at the Cape of Good Hope in the 17th century and began to form alliances with local women, as a result, modern South Africa is inhabited not only by representatives of the indigenous race, but also by swarthy citizens of mixed origin.
There are 12 official languages in the Republic of South Africa, which, along with Zulu, Ndebele, Tswana, and others, include Afrikaans. Among the 12 million native speakers of this language, in addition to citizens of South Africa, are residents of Namibia, Swaziland, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Lesotho, as well as the UK, Australia and New Zealand. Half of those who know Afrikaans consider it their mother tongue.
Until 1990, Afrikaans was one of the official languages of Namibia, currently the only official language of this country is English. In South Africa, there are also periodic calls to get rid of the legacy of the colonial past, but even President Nelson Mandela used Afrikaans in his inaugural speech. The language naturally retains its position, as it is understood by the majority of South African citizens.
History of the African language
The second name of Afrikaans is the Boer language, the Flemish (Dutch) origin of which is beyond doubt. Differences with the mother tongue began to appear soon after the arrival of the colonists in Africa. Two centuries after the start of colonization, the language spoken by the aliens was called African-Dutch because of the obvious differences. An Afrikaans written text dated 1795 has been discovered.
Afrikaans has long been thought to have developed from the interaction of many languages such as Dutch, Hottentot and Creole. It is now generally accepted by linguists that Afrikaans is based on the only ancestor - the Dutch language and several of its dialects.
The Boer language is recognized as a simplified and frozen version of the Dutch colonial times. The simplification is especially noticeable in grammar without personal endings of nouns and verbs. Afrikaans is so similar to Dutch that modern Dutch people understand the language and master its oral and written forms in a short time. The Boer language has retained lexemes that have not been used in the Netherlands for a long time, in particular, archaisms from the lexicon of sailors.
Afrikaans was recognized as the official language of South Africa in 1925, until 1914 English prevailed, in which schooling and worship were conducted. Britain's attempts to make English the main language of the country were unsuccessful, as the descendants of the colonialists did not want to give up their native Afrikaans.
The first recordings in Afrikaans date back to 1795, they were comic songs, something like a songbook with ditties. Already after 50 years, the language and its speakers were ennobled so much that the first literary daring appeared in the form of stories, poems and other literary beauties. In 1875, the first dictionary was published, and in 1876, a newspaper. The monument in Parl testifies to the significance of this event.
Today, South African literature is perceived without irony, as the works of many of its representatives deserve close attention and study. The world knows the names of Marais, Leitpoldt, Totius, Selliers, Lerub, Barnard, Brink. Afrikaans has become a full-fledged and fully developed language in which books, newspapers, television and radio programs are published.
- The agreement between Afrikaans and the language spoken in northern Belgium reaches 90%.
- Afrikaans is a tough language. Africans who use other languages in everyday life switch to Afrikaans when they want to say rudeness, quarrel or insult someone.
- In South Africa, it is considered impolite to call by name without special permission. It is customary to call unfamiliar people by their last names with the addition of the words meneer (Mr), mevrou (Mrs), mejuffrou (Miss).
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