Africanisms in America by John Bogle

Africanisms in African American Names in the United States

87 The master's name was usually adopted by a slave after he was set free . This was done more because it was the logical thing to do and the easiest way to be identified, than it was through affection for the master. Also, the government seemed to be in an almighty hurry to have us get names. We had to register as someone, so we could be citizens. Well, I got to thinking about all us slave that was going to take the name Fitzpatrick. I made up my mind I'd find me a different one. One of my grandfathers in Africa was called 24 Jeaceo, and so I decided on Jackson. By 1734, when the South Carolina Gazette was established, names of African origin included Bowbaw, Cuffee, Ebo Jo, Ganda, Quaguo, Quomenor, and Quoy for males, Africans and Auba, Bucko, Juba Mimba, Odah, and Otta for females. African names common in the eighteenth century were Sambo, Quash, Mingo, and Juba. The most widely used day names were Cuffee (Kofi) and Cudjoe for males and Abba and Juba for females. 25 According to Cohen, African day names and their English counterparts existed side by side. Two male slaves named Friday, one of them "this country born" and the other from the "Angola Country," and two male slaves named Monday, one from "Bomborough" (Bambara?) and the other "A Barbian (Bambara) Negro," are mentioned in the Gazette. 26 Blanche Britt supplied Mencken with this list of African names taken from Southern newspapers from 1736 to the end of the eighteenth century: Annika, Boohum, Boomy, Bowzar, Cuffee, Cuffey, Cuffy, Habella, Kauchee, Mila, Minas, Monimea, Pamo, Qua, Quaco, Quamina, Q!.lash, Warrah, and Yonaha.27 Cohen gives a list of African names found in the Gazette between 1732 and 1775 (table 1).28 A list of slave names from a 1656 land patent record suggest that these slaves came from the "Bight of Guinea" to Virginia on a Dutch ship, the Wittepaert, by way of New Netherlands. The Virginia importer was Edmund Scarburgh. The names are given in table 2 29 TABLE

Male Names Ankey

Assam (Asane)* Assey (Ase)* Barey (Bofe)*

African Names from South Carolina Gazette, 1732-1775

Folee Foorbea Gamone(Ngamone) Goma (Ngoma)*

(Kuamania)* Quaow Quash Quaw

Continues on the next page

Africanisms in American Culture

88 Balipho Banjoe Beay (Mbiya)" Beoy Bobodandy Boo (Mbo)" Boswine Bram Bury Chopco (Tshikapu)*' Claes Clawes Chockcoose (Tshikusa)* Congo Crack Cudjoe Cuff Cuffee (Kofi) Culley Cumin (Kumina)* Dago Dembow (Ndembu)* Dibbie Donas Doney Easom

Gunnah (Kuna)*' Haloe (Halue)" Homady Hughky (Huki)*' Jamina*' Jellemy Jobn)' Ketch Mahomet Mallay Mambee (Muambe)"'路 Mamena (Maminu)* Manso Marmillo Masser), Mingo Mobe Mollock Monvigo (Muvinga),:路 Morrica Musce Jack Mussu (Musue)* Okree Pherco Fouta (Fula)* Quacoe (Kuaka)* Quammano

Rente Saffran Sambo Sandico Sango Santry Saundy Save)' Sawney Serrah Shampee Sirrah Sobo Sogo Stepney Tokey Tomboe Wabe (Webe) Whan Wholly (Hola) \\loolaw Yanke Yanki Yonge Zick (Tshika)'~ Zocky (Nzoko) Zoun

Female Names Aba (Aba)" Abe)' Affrey Agua Arrah Banaba Binah (Benay" Body (Mbudi)" Plaeby Quant (Kamu) Rino

Camba (Kamba)* Choe (Njo),"" Cuba (Nkuba)" Dye (Ndaye)" Eley (Elayi)" (Ban' Aba)"" Famtame (Patane)*' Forti mer Rynah Sack (Seka)* Sard

Juba Juda Mabia Mamadoe Mawdlong Embro (Walongo)" Minda (Minda) Nea (Neaye) Sibby Tinah Windy (Wende)

"'r.uba words identified by Vass

Africanisms in African American Names in the United States

89 TABLE 2.

Names Listed on the Dutch Slave Ship Wittepaert

Tony Ufoler (uhola-harvest)* Aiquera Ambe (let him tell)'" Aura Assone (Asune, let him bring water)"* Ay (Aye,. let him send)* Monafunke (Mona nfunke, see I'm pointing)* Eare Messon (Mesu-eyes)* Roundell s Wortells Johney Angora (A'Ngola)* Margan'etta Monque Veco Ogombe (Ngombe-cow)'~ Werrye Ottonco

Tubuno (Tubu'enuk, your hole)* Tabortha Janna (Tshiana, fat chi Id)* Ommo Jihur Curmer Dondo (Ndondo, ritual term, depths)'" Taryi Jonara Jomora Sango (Sanga, unite)*' Croila Jurna Rommo Wingoe Elloren Corle Murrom Agoe (Angue, let him seek)"路 Dony

*Luba words identified by \lass

Africanisms in African American Names Names are of great importance in West and Central Africa. Names are given as stages in an individual's life and, as among all people for whom magic is important, the identification of a real name with the personality of its bearer is held to be so complete that this real name, usually the one given at birth by a particular relative, must be kept secret lest it come into the hands of someone who might use it in working evil magic against the person. That is why, among Africans, a person's name may in so many instances change with time, a new designation being assumed on the occasion of some striking occurrence in the person's life. When the person goes through one of the rites marking a new stage in his or her development, a name change also occurs to note the event. 30 Stuckey, in Slave Culture: Nationalist Theory and the Foundations of Black America (1<,)87), noted that black naming practices were African in origin, in that African Americans changed their names just as Africans

Africanisms in American Culture

Africanisms in African American Names in the United States

did, corresponding to major changes in the life of the individual. The name shifting is clearly demonstrated by the experience of Frederick Douglass, who, soon after escaping slavery, began a series of name changes. 31 On the morning after our arrival at New Bedford, while at the breakfast-tabIe, the question arose as to what name I should be called by. The name given me by my mother was Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey. I, however, had dispensed with the two middle names long before I left Maryland so that I was generally known by the name Frederick Bailey. I started from Baltimore; I found it necessary again to change my name . . .. I gave Mr. Johnson, Mr. Nathan Johnson of New Bedford, the privilege of choosing me a name , but told him he must not take from me the name of "Frederick," I must hold on to that a sense of identity. Sojourner Truth, a crusader for black emancipation and feminine equality, was known as Isabella until about the age of twenty, when she was freed and left her master's plantation. She had a vision in a dream that told her about her new name and her mission to free her people. And Malcolm X, through various stages of his life, was known as Malcolm Little, Homeboy, Detroit Red, Big Red, Satan, Malcolm, EIhajji, and Malik EI Shabazz. 32 Such name shifting is common throughout West Africa and particularly Central Africa . In many parts of Africa every man who leaves his traditional setting and family is given or takes a new name when he turns or walks away from home. This situation parallels that of enslaved Africans who were brought to the Americas, away from their ethnic groups, but who remained in contact with others who shared a similar ethnic background. 33 Nowhere is this tradition as vivid as in the jazz world, where name shifting is common, signaling a major event in the life of the musician: Jelly Roll Morton (Ferdinand La Menthe), Satchmo (Louis Armstrong), Yardbird (Charles Parker), Lady (Billie Holiday). The story of these name changes follows the African pattern of using a new name to adapt to new circumstance and changes in the person's new life.

Africanisms in African American Nicknames A more direct African survival is the use of nicknames. Almost every black person is known by two names: a given name and a name used only within the family circle. Lorenzo Dow Turner found a du~1 namin.g system among the Gullah in the Sea Islands of South CarolIna. This

systen: c.o nsists of an English (American) name given at birth and a more Intimate name. used exclusively by the family and community. Tu:ner was su:pnsed that previous scholarship had failed to note this practice or the Importance of Africanisms in Gullah nomenclature. ~laveh?lders r~cognized this dual naming practice among enslaved Africans In the eighteenth century. In their advertisements of runaways in the South Cal'olma Gaz ette, owners always included "proper" (given) names and "country names," the African names retained .34 This ~aming pra.ctice still ex~sts among the Gullahs and in the gener~1 African Am~ncan populat~on. In black naming practices, every chtld rec~lv~s .a given name at birth and a nickname that generally follows the Individual throughout life. Some examples of these nicknames are Jo Jo, June, !iny Baby, O.K., John John, Mercy, Baby Sister, "T," Sunny Man, MaIn, Bo, Boo, Bad Boy, Playboy,and Fats. 35 Among enslaved Africans this practice also was evident in names used by slaves, such as Pie Ya, Puddin'-tame, Frog, Tennie c., Monkey, Mush, Cooter, John de Baptist, Fat-Man, Preacher, Jack Rabbit, Sixty, Pop Corn, Old Gold, Dootes, Angle-eye, Bad Luck, Sky-up-de-Greek Cracker Jabbo, Cat-Fish, Bear, Tip, Odessa, Pig Lasses, Rattler, Pearly: Luck, Buffalo, Old Blue, Red Fox, Coon, and Jewsharp. Tu~ner found that Gullah-speaking people preserved their language an? mcknames by what they called basket names or day names. Their chtldren always. had t.wo distinct names, an English one for public use and an authentiC Afncan name for private use by the extended family alone.

~ere

are a few examples of Gullah basket names which are also

s~ralght, unchanged, present-day Tshiluba names: Ndomba is the name glve~ a Gullah child whose hand protrudes first at birth . It means "I am beggIng (with my outstretched hand)." Mviluki has a Gullah meaning of . "I ts L uba SOurce word is MvuJuki, a rememberer one . " a pemtent. who doesn't forget his sins. The basket name Siungila means "to 'save help, deliver," while Kamba, a very common Luba name comes fro~ Munk,~mba,. meaning "ancestor." The Gullah meaning of Kamba is "a grave. AnYIka, a Gullah name meaning "to praise the beauty of." Sebe a Gullah n~me meaning "a leather ornament," comes from the Mes~ (eyes), Kudlma (to work or hoe), and Kudiya (to eat) are all Gullah day names, exactly the same in Gullah and Luba. 36 In th~ Se~ Island of South Carolina, children sometimes have not ~?Iy theIr ~Iven names but also community names. The community g~ves the chI~d a name that characterizes or is characteristic of the individual, that IS, .Smart Child, Shanty (showoff).37 This practice parallels Bantu namIng practices in Zaire. Net's basketball center Dikenibo

.' . the United States Africanisms in African A mellcan Names 10 Africanisms in American Culture

92 Muto from Zaire illustrates this point. His full name is Dikambe mbo Mutombo Mpolondo Munkamba Diken Jean-Jean Jacque wa Mutombo. In order, these names are his uncle's name, his family surname, his grandfather's name, his nicknames given by his village, his name given at birth , and his hometown village, wa Mutombo (which means "from the village Mutombo,,)38 Other creolized Gullah pet names (nicknames) so typical of Bantu practices are names of animals or fish : De Dog, Doggie, Kitty, Fish, Yellowtail, Croker, Frog Spider, Boy, Gal Jumper, Tooti, Crocki, Don, 39

Cuffy, Akebee, Dr. Buzzer, and Dr. Eagle. In Gullah naming practices, as in African naming practices, children are named after parents because they are believed to be the parent spirit residing in the children. The same name might appear in several generations in a family. In the Sea Islands, the name Litia appeared in four

number that the majority of persons in However, for the Bantu th .. ' ?ne area may share half a dozen h . , b e Spllit name IS ne er sack to the grave. ver c anged from the moth.. name (literall T " f ' . The giving of th e Spirit " IS regarded as an event of th .), 0 birth or "of the navel") e greatest Impo t E . regar ed as the "come back" f r a n c e . very child born is · d 0 some dead pers .h o t e opposite sex The h on, elt er of the same or . person as to be given ' .. name of the feadh person. t h e spmt d Munday po'nt I S out t h at the spirits of the d . they become incarnate agal'n 111 . anot h er hu eadb are ' ' .Immortal onlyJ as name. a name IS forg'ot ten so t h at 'It cannotman be ell1g' that bears. their If ers t rough the world as a h 42 . c~me II1carnate, It wanh dna ' namll1 g practICe . of spirit mes an dgiven names stl'll eg . ost. . ThiS h d '\f . XIStS Wit the Af . . ncan mother continent an f1. ncan Americans in the N h A ort mencan Dlaspora : AfRICANISMS IN CONT£MPORARY AMERIC .AN ENGLISH

generations of female children. An integral part of Bantu culture is the unchanging secret "spirit name," something that the individual has which is uniquely his or her own from the past and is carried on to the next generation, given to a new baby so that it may remain incarnate. Thus, by a strange interweaving of religion and language, the " inner soul" of the speech of a cultural

adobe 43 ananse

e ry good, used esp, in emphatic fi . ' jack son's " I 'm baad l " Si 'J .. Olm, ba~d. Cf. Michael , f . ' ml ady are mean m the IS YIng, fine , attracti ve; wicked in h ' ,sense of sa table. Cf. African use of .' t e sense of excellent, capnegatl ve terms cally, to describe posit' ' pronounced emphati" Ive extremes: Mandin 0 (B ka nyl kO-Jugu, it's very good l (I't ,,"' g ambara) a d' (G' ' I, It IS good badl I")' M mgo ambIa) a llyinata .aw- k ' y, ,) anWest African EnO"lish (S' J L e, she IS very beautiful! Also <> lerra eon e) gud baad, it's ver d1

group is preserved. As Munday reported : Investigation brings to light the fact that the Africans of these parts, whether man or woman, have twO classes of names: (a) spirit-names and (b) names of manhood or womanhood. Each has one (a few have two) of the names of the first class, and one or more names from the second class. It is by these names of manhood or womanhood that they prefer to be called; some are traditional African names of these parts, some are debased European words, some are European given or family nicknames, some are nickn ames, given owing to some peculiarit y, some are names given at baptism . All of these names of manhood and womanhood (except the last) can be, and are, changed for any and no reason, and according to who is changed, once it is finally given. It is of this spirit-name that the Lala aphorism says: The name is the Spirit. Officials now prefer the A frican to be registered under his spirit name, because it is never changed, but there are tWO practical disadvantages which weigh against its being used for registration purposes. A Bantu with which we are concerned is exceedingly shy of using it for himself or another, and in some parts, the spirit names are so few in

. g Twi. (A (Akan) a pa J.m tree, Ieaves or grass used fio'I roo f covenn '[. VWI kan) and Ewe, s pider; Bambara nansi, chameleon .

Threatening, hateful glance, Common Af ' , y goo , can colloquialism Cf M d' ,ncan-AfrIcan Ameri" ' ' an Ingo nve'ltuu h t f I I · bad eye") and ' 'I ' :.J J b ' a e u g ance (Jit simi ar phrases In other West Af·' I . guages, Ilcan anbad-mouth47

bamboula 49

In, Gullah ' slan d e r, ab use, goss ip' also used dingo da-Jugu and H " as y, Cf. Man au sa mUf5um-bak I d cases, lit, "bad mouth")," I, s an er, abuse (in both Bantu mubambi, one who lies do ' of antelope fawn for conce I wn( fin order to hide; position a meor c ' VI/a It D'Isney Bambi) '\f . , ncan drum used in New Orle ' ' , century, Also a y' ans dunng the nineteenth , 19orous style of danc' h· eth century "Dr '" , mg t ele, early twenti. ' um 10 early Jazz use Cf b or str'lke a surface d ., "ambula, beat, hit ,a rum. SimIlar t ' ' erms In other West African coastal language "" rou <> ps, Wolof word Iior f rUll ' and was first recorded in 1563 l an d en-

Africanisms in American Culture Africanisms in African American Names in the United States

94 95

路' . h English in the seventeent h cen t u ry via Spanish tere d B lltlS and Portuguese. banjo51 be with it bidibidi bidd/

. n ed musical instruments, whence Kimbundu mbanza,. stn g d B azilian Portuguese banza. also Jamaican EnglIsh banJa an r" . . . 't") to . Mandingo expreSSIOn, to be a la (lit. "to be with In, In I

buckra (2)69

be in fashion. . "a . . . . a sma II b'rd' Bantu btdtbtdt.: I , a small yellow bird. EbonlC: little biddy bird."

, d (1' "b'l)' eye") Cf. West Igbo anya uku, ~ovetouEs, g~eeh ~ig ~~y ~:g ey;. Same in GulAfrican and Canbbean ng IS , lah and Black English.

bogue, bogus

hocuses pocus. d ComBantu mbuku, stupid, blundering act; error, blun er. . kname found in black EnglIsh. man mc . lang' .. sex . Cf. black Amencan s . Bantu buedi, act 0 f emiSSIOn,

booboo 58 boody 59

"o-ive me that booty." 60

Mandingo baga, to offend, annoy, harm (someone); Wolof buga/, to annoy, worry. Note also West African and Caribbean English ambog, to annoy; this form; pronounced in eighteenth

f d

. L ) friend' informal term a a Temne and Vai (Sierra A eofne, dC' aribbean English bo, ba. ncan an dress for an equa I . liVest v I' h . f rau d , West African H boko boko-boko, deceit, . Eng f k IS au sa , b 0 Louisiana French bogue, a e, (Sierra Leone) bogo- og,. f bo us has an analogy with fraudulent, phony. The ending a g

cat

chance 72 chick 73

. )62 boogie (woogle

bozo

brer, buh bronco

buckaroo

Mandingo kckc, elder brother; title used before am mal names .In fab I es ta Ies. Cf. Uncle Remus usage. S . h ' .. '.,.' used centuries ago to denote pams Term of IblblO on",In, k d with and cared for cattle. and African slaves who wor e . 'h'te man' I , a white person buckIng a Ibibio buckra. poor W bronco. See Bttckra.

Bantu tsltianza, hand, handfUl; a certain number, severaL

Wolof jtg-a, insect, sand flea , First recorded in 1743, via Caribbean . Originally pronounced and spelled cltigo, cizego, or cltiego, Originated in Colonial period when African labor and skills were closely associated with cattle raising. Africans stationed at cow pens with herding responsibilities were referred to as "cowboy," just as Africans who worked in the "Big House" were known as "houseboy" As late as 1865, following the Civil War, Africans whose livestock responsibilities were with cattle were referred to as "cowboys" in plantation records. After 1865, whites associated with cattle industry refened to themselves as "cattlemen" to distingui sh themselves from "cowboys."

spirit. d' B b ka lubuk conjure, enc h ant, d'vine' I , consult . a me 1u imaginary , err cause a f lear, wo) " , nemesIs. .antu an' cIne m , ~ Hausa b k k' to take off in dance per ormance . Bantu m u I-mvu t, . ct Mande bugs, to beat, to beat buga (bugt after n. (Sierra Leone) bogi, to dance. drums. West Afncan .'" . h b ts to a bar; boog, to dance. , _ To dance fast blues musIC, elg t ea . . d to powder' extremely, exceed Bantu bOlehsha,. PU~V~:lg::e g~~. Uncle Re~us usage. ingly to t e nInt . 'd ' thin s over in passing; a strong, stUpl Bantu boza, knock g . black American slang: person, a stumblebum. Common In "Don't be a bozo!" .

A person, man, fellow, just a "cool dUde," Same as hipi cat.

chigger74

ObJ~n~iish

. 63 bowdaclOus

century with stress on second syllable, may reflect the nominal prefix m-in Wolof mbuga/, hindrance, annoyance. The same element may be contained 'in British and American English humbug, to hoax, impose Upon.

Girl, pretty young woman , one especially "hip," or attractive, Cf Wolof jigen, woman, Note convergence with English chicken.

'" Bantu m bu kk u, divination , consultation of the SpIrIts; ghost,

boobaboo

Efik and Ibibio mbakara, master. Used by enslaved Africans to refer to and address their masters. By 1730s, enslaved Africans and colonists used it to mean "white man." Often pronou nced and spelled buccara and boccra, by 1775 it had COme to mean "gentlemen" and even, by 1860s, the color "white." Poor or mean white man , now rare in the United States, except in the South Carolina Sea Islands. Still current in Jamaican English. Convergence with Spanish vaquero; hence buckaroo, bucker (cowboy).

Baby chick chicken, fowl.

路 eye 55 bIg

booger

buckra (1 )68

cool

COotcr 7S

Bantu kuba, care for, take care of, watch over, a hutch, pen, or coop for fOwls or small domestic animals: a chicken "coob," Mandingo cool, slow, and gone not; hence fast, Terms applied to music and dancing: calm, COntrolled, slow tempo and the opposite, hot, fast, and energetic. Corresponding terms found in other African languages. Kongo nkuda. a box turtle. Also West African kUla, turtle, use recorded 1832. Came into southern U.S. dialect via Gullah heard mainly in Georgia, South CarOlina, Alabama, and Louisiana.

Africanisms in American Culture

Africanisms in Af . A . ncan menCan Names in the United States

day-clean 79

diddle

Bantu klt/oka kulu, dawn, "clean sky"; \Volof ba set na, it has dawned (day is clean); Mandingo dugu jeTa, it has dawned (day has become clean, clear). Found in Gullah, West African and Caribbean English do-k!in , day-clean, and black Caribbean Frenchju ne/ye (lit. "day-cleaned").

路 82 d Ig

Bantu wadld-wadid: you eat and eat; legendary place of plenty to eat. Wolof deg, dega, understand, appreciate, pay attention to. Convergence with Black English to "dig," understand.

Hausa gama, boastfulness, Showing off. Originally meant an African from the G . UInea coast Later . t b ~~~nt a ack not y~t fully acculturated during slav~ry. In' I . ' app led to Afncans brought to Ogeechee R' I tlOn under coercion. Iver p anta-

goober93

goofer-bag 94 goofer-dust 95

doll-bab/

do one's thing

Mandingo ka a fen ke (lit. "to do one's t'ing"), to undertake one's favorite activity or assume one's favorite role. \Volof doon, past completive marker, "he done go"; Mandingo tun, past completive marker. Cf also black West African English don, as past completive marker. Convergence with English done.

fat-mouth 89

Mandingo da-baa, excessive talking (lit. "big, fat mouth"). Same as bad-mouth. Akan foforo, new, fresh, strange. An outsider, a newcomer, one who does not belong or is not accepted, a fool, a worthless person. Convergence with Eng'lish fool. Cf black Jamaican English foo~(oo, fool-fool, credulous, easy to take advantage of, stupid. Wolof fils, horse (jtts rpi, the horse, ;CI.S .vi, the horses). "Horse" in two specialized senses: "range horse" and "sure bet at a horse race." Hence, perhaps, jilzz, jiIZZY. policeman,

B~ntu kufoJa, to die; v. common to all Bantu languages A c arm to protect from death. . Bantu ktt{aw, to die. Refers to g'ra'Ce dirt. In Congo (Zaire) IS considered at one with the spirit of the UrIe person. Used by "root workers" A . tion. on mencan planta-

. . 97 grIS-grIS

Yoruba omo lang/di, little child; oyedeji, wooden images. Southern dialect idiom common in black English, distribution mainly along Atlantic Coast. 86

Bantu nguba, peanut; use recorded 1834 Anoth d C pe '. d . er Wor lor anut IS pm er, or pinal, from Congo mpinda, eanue first recorded In Jamaica 1707, South Carolina 848. ,use

~arthdfrom a grave

Mandingo dell, din, child, young person, younger than the speaker, den-ke, male child, young man. A black person, dingey; a black child, dinkey. Akan dote, earth, soil. Common in U.S., as in "dirt road" or "dirt track." West African and Caribbean English dOli, dirty, earth. Convergence with British English in its original sense of "filthy."

foo-fo0

from an earlier use of h . orse patrols. Convergence with En路 hji g IIS uz zy-tatl.

Bantu dinga: deceive, trick, cheat;/ cheat, swindle.

diddy-wa-diddl

dinge

Yoruba danshiki, a loose, colorfully patterned, bottomless pullon shirt. Garment and word were introduced during the civil rights movement of the 1960s, when young black men wore dashikis to reassert their identity with African culture. Made famous by (Ron) Maulana Karenga in the 1960s.

daskiki

Wolof kus, anus. To nudge someone in the anus "You IS cooked." (Originally from Arabic?) . r goose

~~~ct~vorn a~ protective charm against evil, or used to inflict v . n amu et In place of and with the power to remove oodoo curses. ASSOCiated with voodoo rites I'n L ' . U d b M . OUlslana . se y ane Laveau, noted voodoo queen She co .d grts-lTris of salt d . ncocte a .' " . ' gunpow er, saffron, and dried dog dun A g1ls-g m. that protected from evil or brought good I k g. dIme with a h I ' . uc was a '. 0 e In It, worn about the ankle. Me d ' . gIn, via Hausa. n e In OrI-

gullah 98 Bantu. Ngo/a, an ethnic group in Angola. Refers to African Amellcans lIVIng In th S I I d . C' . e ea s an sand reg'ions of South aroitna, GeorgIa, and northern Florida. Also refers to theil' Ianguage.

i:;I~~:~y~~~~I~,\:sd:ersonds.

Used as a term of address, includresse even to a Single man r h or woman. . b ng IS personal name Guy. UndIfferentiated third-person sin . . . usage is found in most West Afric:'nP~~~':nh:I~~:~~' ~.Imtlar g,ua~es, as well as in most forms of black W . u anCarIbbean English. In Gullah . est AfrIcan and referring' to eith' I ' he remaInS undIfferentiated el a rna e or a female I" " '. ' fluence in different ' r" b . 01 re\erse AfrIcan Inla IOn etween Second-person sing and pi . pron. . b

Convero'ence with E

rVlandingo n mu a men, I

j' (I(

I ' n t underst'lnd (lit. "I didn't

Africanisms in American Culture

Africanisms in African American Names in the United States

hear it"), hearing in the sense of understanding. 0: si~ilar . . 0 f v. meanm . oo' "to hear" in other West Afnc,ln lanapplicatIOn guages.

路 102 hep h Ip

honkie

Wolof hong, red pink; color used to describe white people 111 African languages. Cf. also pink, a white man, and redneck, a . f armer m . theUS referred powerful white . . In Ebolllcs honkle . k d t whites who would come to the black community, par an their horns for their black dates. This term was used before the 1960s.

h~nk hoodoo

l04

Hoodoo, as opposed to voodoo, is less centrally organized as art of voodoo religious practices. It generally connotes the p . an d magl'cal ,aspects. , usually evolved for mystic . negative .. I pur"To hoodoo someone" implied that an mdlvldua was pose. to do something agamst . . Wl'11 by t h e u se of .vanous made his concoctions, which could be drunk, eaten, or worn, In order to make someone fall in love or to cause a death.

hulla-ballo 105 hully-gully . 107 Jam

106

Jazz

109

jelly, jelly-roll

Bantu halakala, compare (the hands, to ascertain the one holding the rock). A child's game. .

jenk III

Bantu njika, reserve, reticence, inhibition. "To spread my jenk": relax, have a good time.

jiffyllZ l13 jigg'er

Bantu tshipi, short. In a second, in a moment.

jiggaboo 114

jitter-(bug) 115

jive 116

john 11 7

Mandingo ji-to, frig'htened, cowardly, from Ji, to be afraid.

Wolof jev, jew, to talk abou t someone in his absence, esp. in a disparaging way. Misleading talk; to talk in a misleading or insincere way. Applied to sexual and musical activity. Ct. semantic range of jazz. Convergences with English jive, jibe, to sneer at, disparage. Mandingo jon, slave, a person owned by Someone else. An average man, esp. one who can be exploited 'Or easily taken in; a male lover, a prostitute's client. Also used in black American folklore, as in John Henry, name of hero-slave frequently ill conflict with "massa." The term massa provides a convenient convergence of English master and Mandingo massa, chief. That Mandingo speakers in U.S. were conscious of this convergence is suggested by the cycle of black American tales involving John-versus-Massa, which corresponds to a similar genre of Mandingo tales in West Africa involvingjon, the slave, versus massa, the chief.

.. to make dance . Obsolete forms Jas, jasy. The nuBantu Jaja, b' s of J' t' ns of this term center on aSlc v. sen e

Bantu tshikabo, they bow the head docilely. Derogatory term

Jilobaga, a frightened, cowardly person. To tremble and shake, have "the jitters"; nervousness, fear, cowardice. Jitter bug: an excited swing addict, who shakes and trembles in dancing.

Celebration by emancipated slaves made famous with Juneteenth celebrations.

merous app Ica 10 . n unrestricted or ex"to speed up, excite, exaggerate, act m a . '" " " Note corresponding use as n. and as adj., Jazzy. treme way. . . . ' erA lied to copulation, frenzied dancmg, fast mUSIC, exag~ talk gaudy patterns and colors, excessive pleasure-seek mg. ae ' .' to become abnormal or out of character, d,. . . ' . . . H / I f , and Cf. Man mgo ja,z, . h d' '1'shed or excessive. Cf. slmlhll ,,00 yee. eH er I m1l1 I.. 31)Tcmne yas, to I.ue> I'" 'cl),' or energetic to an extreme (egl ce, '

Bantu njiga, sand flea, insect.

for black person. In black English a jiggaboo is someone who is extremely black, with strong African features, as opposed to high yellow, or light-skinned.

.. playing . Informal gathering of Jazz mUSICianS, . for. their . own .. . t Same element may be contamed In Jamb01ee, entertammen . fi d d in

108

Mandingo jeli, minstrel, who often gained popularity with women through his skills in the use of words and music. A virile man who curries sexual favors of women. Epithet applied in US. to several black musicians, including "Jelly Roll Morton" (piano), "Jelly" Williams (bass), and "Jelly" Thompson (guitar). Convergence with English items of food, jelly and jelly-rol l.

Bantu halua balualua, when those that are coming arrive. Hence noise, uproar, racket of greeting.

noisy revel, celebration, a full hand of cards, rst re~~~s: Afri1860s. Possible convergence of MandlOgo and black 'M I f (from Arabic), crowd gathering, and" 0 0 can EnO'lishjama 0 . 1 (.m USa Jam save . . , gathering of slaves or former " slaves b for : own entertalnmen . t) . A related Wolof term IS Jaam uuy, their freeman, freed man. jamboree

llO

Wolof hepi, hipi, to open one's eyes, to be aware of what IS going on. Hence hipi-kat, someone with eyes open, aware of what is going on. .

l03

plied to exaggerated styles of dancing or music, excessive Jove-making, etc.

juba (1)118

A group dance with complex rhythmic clapping and slapping of knees and things, as done by plantation slaves (1834). Both dance and word are of African origin.

juba (2)"')

One of the earliest records of the tcrmju/Ja dates to American minstrel days. Both Juba and Jube consistently appeared

Africanisms in African American Names in the United States Africanisms in American Culture

101 100

garding the dea th of a black person, until about the mid nineteenth century, when it moved into Standard American E nglis h,

. k ' \led mus ic ia ns ed Africans who wele s 1 as names 0 f ens lav and dancers. juba (3)

juba (4)

the field s.

. k

JU e

" ea nut ground nut, "goober, from Bantu nguba , kmgoo a, P .' d . d The Juba dance was which an old African m elod y IS . efl\~u~ became so popular . ' II .~ med on plantations ong ll1a y pel or CI leston after the southern that whites gave it the nam e lar ' . ntroduced in 1926 d . I e port The dance was I city an major s av . . n' an all-black production by E. F to the Amencan stage 1 R ' , W"id and as the Miller and Aubrey Lyles e ntitled un~m of t~e" 1920s. "Charleston" it became the dance craze I d d 'sorderl y life- Bambara Wolof d.zug, to misbehave, ea a I 10 v dive' Mainl y Gul. k d Brothel cheap tavern , \ . dzugu, \VIC e. . ' .,.,'. k (1939) to make the 1I1 South 10)U e , b bl k se lah an d ac u . d . k ' ng' used m ai nly y rounds of taverns and low dives~ go nn I , " to make 1940 to uke came to mean Southerners. By ear Iy s.) . k b es" (19 39) Juke . k' d dancll1<7 to JU e ox . the rounds drIn lI1gda~ouses tha~ featured jukeboxes. Juke . k' do )'oints '. ta. verns or roa b Cf also Bantu)u a, ri se up, Juke-)o/IU , a hand-ou t ar. .

122

12l

your things . .

to describe an Afncan dan~~n:t:~'d Wes t Indies. Juba is also particularly In South Calo ~ hild born on Monday. the Akan female day name or a c . h food that enslaved AfnTraditional slave food . Re fer s toht e collected from the k' ·· n the plantatIOn ou se cans wor lI1 g J lled juba jibba or , I f vers Such leftovers were ca " massa s e to . . S d the leftovers were throw n tojiba. On Saturday OJ un ay . h the meat from the bread and ge ther ' no one could dJstlnguls . d those h" b was placed 1I1 a huge pot an , d ' ' th tho se working in vegetables. T IS JU a wor k ·Ing .1I1 "de big Hou se" sh are It WI

121

juba (5)

· h to beat time rhythmically. se . b )'iouha or dIU tt , d d Bantu)u a, '. the Charleston; reCOI" e

[20

Bantu n)iu , danger, harm , accident.

. 124

125

kelt, ketch

126

k ickeraboo 127

128

To affect strongl y, as in "you kill me !" Similar usage ina number of West African lan guages, includin g Wolof and Mandingo, or verbs meanin g lit. "to kill."

kook , kook y 129 kong lubo

130

such. . . v i to be Stl' 11 , 'Immo b'le I . Bantu kukawiu, to take off, remove, .. , Name of a lar ge bird, mockingbird . · . ngs pale stuff. A · filter , str ain', catch t h e d nppl , Bantu k ei e)a, light-skinned black person. .' . ' " k 'lc k the bucket" evolved from k/ckeraThe Amencal1ls ms to d d d Term has twO African hoo and kickatavoo, bile or ea · C I f' S'lerra r eone) kekE I' h base d reo co ' " sourceS: Krio (the ng IS, -h : (as leaves or fruit); Ga (West dead to Wit el " h b k reblt. k e em It, " . . b f II cnd. "K icking t e · )k k dr)' sufi' and ho, to e a , f ,. ' . . llackface minstrel songs, rcA m .: a ere, bucket" was used 1I1 AmerIcan )

First used in America in 1732 to identify slaves from Niger Delta. Use of African name indicated a first-generation African or a new ly arrived "saltwater" African.

mahoola III

man

mat

Bantu lIlahula., sec rets, divulged m atters, indiscretions, Silly talk .

III

mass a

Mandin go ce, man, the man; power, authority. Term of address,

1]4

Mande (Mandingo) masa, chief.

l.15

mean mOJo

H au sa mata or mace, woman, wife.

l l6

Similar to bad, as "don't be mean to m e."

137

moola, mula mother yo' Il9 mama mouse

Bantu kuku. dolt, blockhead . A strange, peculiar pe rso n. Bantu nkongo. mixture, conglomeration. Bootleg whiskey.

ll l

A char m or fetish aga inst

JU JU

kakatulu

kil

1411

nana 141

Fula moca, to cast a magic spell by spittin g. Hence mocore, m ag ic spe ll, inca ntation uttered while spittin g. Originally, m agic spell , charm , amulet, spell cas t by spitting, Mainly used today in se n se of something worki n g in one's favor: "1 got my mojo working!" Also, narcotics, Cf. Gullah moco, witchcraft, m ag ic, Black Jamaican English maJoe, mojo, plant with renowned medicinal powers, ll8

Bantu mulambo, receipts, tax money. Money, wea lth . Cf. black English "give m e some moola!" Wes t African, esp. Wolof; used as term of severe abuse or of jocular abuse between friends. Includes use of ex plicit insults, suc h as " motherfucker." l'vlandingo mllSO and Vai mum, woman, wife. Attractive girl, young woman, girlfriend, wife. Convergence with English mouse , Of several terms for "woman " taken over into black English from major West African langu ages. Bantu nana,' grandmother; Akan: nalla: grandmothe r or grandfather. White man. Extended form: o{ctginzy. Occurs as a nominal ! adjectival prefix in many West African languages. Term for "w hite," beginning with " f," also occurs widely: Bama fe, Gola jUll, Ndoh jowe, etc, It has been suggested that ofay represe nts a rea rran ge ment of the letters of the English word joe

Africanisms in African American Names in the United States

Africanisms in American Culture

103

102

okay (I)

143

okay (2)

okra

. . L ' b t from its form, the word is more likely to Into pIg atIn, u have an African origin. . . _ . D'abo o-ke; Western Fula eeyl Mandlngo o-ke; Dogon 0 kay, I in" es indeed!" ka . \'Volof waw kayk, mam ke, all mean g. Y , 'ua es of y, . !l' ht" Note widespread use In lang g "That'S It, a ng . fi atory markWest Africa of kay and similal:, for~s;~c:~~e~:se of ok kI, fter words meanIng yes. . h ers, esp. a . ffi . . n black Jamaican Englls . d' . urpnsed a rmatlOn, I f OK In IcatIng s , s the popularization 0 1816; predates by over t~ent{ ) ~arAffirmative use of kay-ki in as early as 1776. Early in white speech of New ng dand 'f , h' U S IS recor e rom . I' OK as initial letters of mlsblack speec In . ' attempts were ~a(~e to ~xp,,:\~ correct" or as French words au spelling of Eng IS wor s ts have been made . h 'de Subsequent attemp . quat, on t e quaysl . G k Scots English, Finl1lsh, m from German ree" · .ct . has been given to POSSI-. to d enve ter and Choctaw, but little consl eratlOn bility of origin in black speech. . " f h (lit "that beIng done ). Use of Mandingo o-ke-len, a ter t at .. d' spread in West African lant ctic construction IS WI e . · I' k between sentences In runn t h IS syn a "Af that" serves as In . guages. . ter dl'scourse serving to confirm the precedIng InO' narratIVe or , . ' ate the following sentence. an"d antlClp . n in redient of gumbo. Food plant Bantu kingombo, okra, mal g h N w World by

144

l45

palooka

146

pamper peola

indigenouS to CentKral Africa an~s~r;~~t:e~~er: by 1780s. enslaved Africans. nown to m . fi sm convulsIOn. A Bantu paluka (tshiseki), to have a t, spa , 'd e son' an inferior pnzefighter. Stupl p r , . . d To scold Bantu pamba, be worried, upset, afraid, dlsqUlete .

147

or "bless out" someone. k · A light-complexioned black Bantu peu/a , peel off outer sIn.

148

pernatural being thought to haunt Georgetown area of South Carolina. Female, animal-like ghost, feared in South. po ke

154

Bantu -poko, deep bag, socket, cavity A sack, bag, wallet. Cf. "a pig in a poke."

poon tang, IS S puntang poop

poor rap

156

Wolof pup, to defecate, of a child. Convergence with similar forms in European languages, including Dutch. Cf. black English pup pup.

. l Si )0

Vai dialect work of Liberia and Sierra Leone (1736), heard mainly in Georg·ia. Colloquial nam e for great blue heron.

158

West African English (Sierra Leone) rap, to con, fool, get the better of someone in verbal play. Descriptive of a variety of verbal techniques: to speak to, greet; flirt with, make a pass (at a girl); speak in a colorful way; tease, taunt; con, fool. Used also as n. Recently popularized black American usage of rap is, in fact, old. Note 10 rap, meaning "to speak or talk."

rooty-toot rllskus sambo

119

l60 l61

pharaoh phoney

ISO

. r; '0 g'lrl Girl girlfriend, blues term. . ) . K anUrljel ) . . i (to be) false, valueless; to tell a he. CounMandlngo Jam, Jon h' fie or valueless. Note also bogue, terfeit, sham, somet Ing a s E I' h (S ee Black West African ng IS 1Temne pmd, to stare at, sas 'an intensifying adv. After v. deerra Leone) pm, stanng, . I' h in . " see" ConverO'ence with Eng IS P . notIng t o · 0 C 'T'emne (a-) benthO, bier for carrying corpse. In South aro" and Georgia, means " co ffi n. " lina . , · .h \. k a dog at the door. Malevolent, suBantu palata)'l , saa.tl.: I c

bogus. .

\5\

pInto

152

plat-eye

151

Wolof rUlu-luti, rapid drumming sound. Old-fashioned music. Also 1'00IirHootin, noisy, boisterous. Bantu Ittkashi, sound of cheering and applause. Informal, noisy commotion, rumpus. Bantu -samba, to comfort, cheer, console. Cf. Also widespread West African personal name: Wolof Samb, Samba; Mandingo Sambu; Hausa sambo; similar names among Bantu. Black man , male child, popular Southern use of the name. "Little Black Sambo" story appears to be a corruption of a West African folk tale.

say, says 162

Mandingo ko ... , say. Similar use of items meaning lit. "Say" found in numerous West African languages, black West African, and Caribbean English. Term used to introduce reported speech, "that ... ," "he tell him , say.... " Cf. black speech "say, ' man ... ," "he say this, and he says that."

shucking l6 .1

Bantu shikuka, hold the head hi gh, be willful, be obstinate. Lying, bluffing, faking.

girl. 149

Bantu mu nlanga, under the bed. Sexual intercourse with a black person. Sexually attractive (black) woman, vagina. Cf. Lima punltty, vagina. Convergence with French putain, prostitute.

Temne bOlme-der, put skin; Mandingo J golo don m bolo, put your skin in my hand. Cf. black speech "give me some skin, man l " (shake h.ands with me!). Used in 1960s by African Americans before it moved into white American speech. Bantu IIlaba, mudJy place from which mud for building walls is taken. Building material composed of oyster shells, lime,

Africanisms in American Culture

Africanisms in African American Names in the U . d S tates nIte

104

105

sand, and saltwater, commonly used in building slave houses in Georgia and South Carolina. too-Ia-Ioo 166 tote

167

uh_huh l68

VOOdOO

wyacoo

l69

170

Yah (yo)171

yam

172

you-uns

Bantu tullualua, we're coming! Words of a song.

ziggab o l75

Kikongo tota, to pick up; Kimbundu tuta, to carry, load. Black West African English (Sierra Leone) tot, Cameroon lUt, to carry. Similar forms meaning "carry" found in a number of western Bantu languages.

zombie l76

Uh-hum, yes; mhm, no. Cf. widespread use throughout Africa of similar responses for "yes" and "no." Scattered use of such forms occurs elsewhere in the world esp. for "yes," but nowhere as regularly as in Africa, where, in many languages, they constitute regular words for "yes" and "no." Note also occurrence of intonational variants of these forms to indicate differing intensities and situations of response, both in African languages and black American English, as well as in black African and Caribbean English. African origin of these items is confirmed by their much wider use in American than in British English.

Fon (Dahomey) vodu, vodun, fetish, witchcraft; to bewitch. Entered English via black French of New Orleans.. Mandingo epithet for a bad but powerful chief Arabic Yaqub, Jacob. Also Yacub, described by Malcolm X as creator of white race. A white racist. Crebo ya, used after commands; Temne yo, used after statements or commands. An emphatic concluding particle: "Indeed!" Often said in endearing tone, thus softening a statement or command. Also black West African and Caribbean English ya, said after statements or command. Wolof nyam, taste; Serer nyam, eat; Fula llyama, eat; black West African and Caribbean English nyam, to eat. Also Bantu nyambi, to eat.

yackety-yak 173 174

maica, and elsewhere. In Gullah, yu versus une, and in black Guyana Engbsh, you versus you-all.

Bantu ya fltata ya ntata, of the passing moment only temporary. Idle chatter, monotonous talk. You pI.; similar use of you-all. Regular differentiation between second-person sing. And pI. pron. in African languages undoubtedly played a part in introduction of comparable differentiation in American English, esp. in South. Reinforced perhaps by differentiated pron. of French and Spanish. Cf. esp. Wolof yow, you sing., versus yeen, yena, you pI. Hence convergences with you in sing. And Y01l + one as new secondperson pI. form. Note first-persoll me-um by analogy. Cf. black West African and Caribbean English Jill, you sing. versus una, unll, you pI. used in Sierra Leone, Cameroon, Ja-

Someone extremely dark in skin color.

~ShiJuba Nzambi,

God, and trlujangi, spirit of the dead; Kimu.ndu Ilzumbt, ghost, phantom. Supernatural force that bnngs a corpse back to life. Cf black Haitian French b' black West African and Caribbean Engll'shj' b' S. z om t, L om t, lerra eone and Cameroonjumbi, Guyana and Jamaica zombie.

Notes I.

Francis Le Lau to Sec S P G Au' 0 gation of Gospel). . . . ., g. 3 , 17 12 , S.P.G. MS.A, no. 27 (Propa-

N"An Account of the Negro Insurrection in South Carolina" . ewton D Mereness li I' I ' p. 234, lJ1 rave s lIZ t ze American Colonies. Edited und th ~~~i~c~sh~ Mthe NalltlOncal Society of the Colonial Dames of America ~rNe\~ . acml an 0., 1916), p. 223. 3· South Carolina Gazette, Sept. 17, 1737. 2.

4· Ibid., June 14, 1740; Sept. 22 , 1737. 5· Ibid., Feb. 8,

174~;

Feb. 25,1749; May 28,175 0 ; Feb. 18,175 1.

6. Ulnch Bonnel Phdlips, American N egro Slaver . A Surv ploymenl and Control oj Negro Lab . !. Oid~' ey oj Supply, Em-

I . or ttl t ze . ,Joltth Plantatzon (New York ' pp eton, 194 1), 20; also lJ1 Mechal Sobel, li'abelin' On the Sl J . . to an A(ro-BapftSt Faith (Princeton N J . Pri c t U·. ave oumey 19 88 ), 37. ' '" neon nlVerSlty Press, A

7· South Carolina Ga.zette, July 8, 173 2 . 8. Ibid., Dec. 21,173 8 .

9· Ibid., Oct. 3, 1743. 10. Ibid., Feb. I, 1746 . II. Ibid. Nov 8 I . J ' . , 75 1 , une 14,1742; Jan. 17, 1743. 12 . Ibid., Jan. 17, 1743. .

13· Ibid ., Oct. 26, 173414· Ibid., Feb. 9, 173 8 . IS· Ibid., Mar. 16, 173 8 .

16. Ibid., Mar. 30, 1734. 17· Ibid., Jan.

22,

1734.

18. Quoted in "The Speech of Negroes in Colonial A . " HW01:Y 24(3) (July 1939). menca, Journal oj Negro 19· Edward long' Th H ,{" ~ , e mary OJ Jamaica (New York' A p, . of 1774 ed., pubJ. by T. Lowndes L d ) . rno res.s, 197 2 ; repnnt , on on , 427; Henl1lng C. Cohen,

Africanisms in American Culture

Africanisms in African American Names I'n the U . d S nlte tates

106

107

"Slave Names in Colonial South Carolina," American Speech 27 (1952), 102-107, here p. 105. 20. Cohen, "Slave Names," 105. 21. Whittington Bernard Johnson, "Negro Laboring Classes in Early America, 1750-1820." Ph.D. dissertation, University of Georgia, 1970. 22. ]. L. Dillard, Black Names (The Hague: Mouton, 1976). 23. Guy Johnson, Drums and Shadows: Survival Studies among the Georgia Coastal Negroes. Savannah Unit, Georgia Writers' Project, Work Projects Administration. Foreword by Guy Johnson, photogTaphs by Muriel and Malcolm Bell Jr. (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1940). 24. Norman R. Yetman, ed. Life under the "Peculiar Institution." Selections from the Slave Narrative Collection (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1970), 13 . 25. Inventories 1732-1736 of Charleston, S.c., Probate Court. 26. Cohen , "Slave Names," 104. 27. H. L. Mencken, The American Language: An Inquiry into the Development of English in the United States (New York: Knopf, 1936), 524. 28. Cohen, "Slave Names." 29· Land Patent Book NO·4, 23· 30. Dillard, Black Names. 3 I. Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (Cambridg'e, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1960; originally published in 1845), 147-48. 32. Alex Haley, The Autobiography of Malcolm X (New York: Grove, 1965). 33. Dillard, Black Names, 25· 34. Lorenzo Dow Turner, Africanisms in the Gullah Dialect (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1949). 35. Carl Lamson Carmer, Stars Fe!! on Alabama (New York: Farmer and Rinehart, 1934), 96. 36. Winifred K. Vass, unpublished materials. 37. Joseph E. Holloway, personal interview with the Rev. Ervin L. Greene, Jr., in Beaufort, Jan. 18, 1984. 38. "A Mutombo by Any Other Name," USA Today, March 1989 . 39. Joseph E. Holloway, interview with Mrs. Etta Williams (age eighty-six), St. Helena Island, Jan. 18, 198440. Joseph E. Holloway, field notebook. 41. ]. T. Munday, "Spirit Names among the Central Bantu," African Studies 7( I) (Mar. 1948), 39-40. 42. Ibid. , 44. 43. Turner, Africanisms in the Gullah Dialect. 44· Ibid. 45. David Dalby, "The African Element in Black English," in Thomas Koch-

man, ed. Rappin' and Sty!" ' 0 C '. (U b ' '. In ut: ommumcatlon in Urban Black A . .r ana: UlllVerSlty of Illinois Press, 197 2 ), 17I. '. mertca 46. IbId. 47. Ibid. 4 8 . Harold Wentworth and Stuart Ber FI . . (New York: Crowell 19 67) 18. DaTby ~'Axnfe:, DtCEtll' onary of American Slang , " , flcan ement." 49· Source: Winifred K. Vass linguist of B t l ,. ' an u anguages. 50. ,~bbster s Nmlh New Collegiate Dictionary (Springfield Mass' M . vve ster, 1988), 12 7. ' .. ernam51. Dena]. Epstein, "The Folk B '. A D ' cology (Sept. 1975) re rint . ;;~o. ocumentary HIstory," Ethl1omusiSpirituals. Black F~/k ~USi/t~'the ~:2! ~~~c(~c~ Epstein, Sinjit! Tunes a~d Press 19 ) r ana . UlllVerSlty of II11110lS D .' 77 , 120-22, 147 1; John A. Holm and Alison Watt ShiJr TA Ictlonary of Bahamian English (Cold S rin · T . • lllg, Ie 1982)', Dalby,flcan "Af' El ement." P g, N.Y.. LeXlk House Publ ., 52. Dalby, "African Element," 177. 53· Betsy) Fancher, Lost Legacy of Georgia's Golden Isle (New York' Doubl d . 1971 , 45. . e a)"

54- Random House Dictionary of the English Lan17 .' Z6 ora Neale Hurston, Mules and Men (New Y;r~~g~a~p";;~I~~e~ ed., 145); 4, 132. ow, 1970 , 55· 56. 57· 58.

Holm and Shilling, Dictionary·, Dalby, ''Af' flcan El ement'' Dalby, ''African Element," 177. . Ibid . Ibid.

59· Random H ouse Dictionary, 16 9. 60. Wentworth and Flexner, Dictionary, 69. 61. Bradley, "vVord-List," 12. 62. 63· 6 4·

Random House Dictionary 169' Dalby ''Af ' El . ' , ., flcan ement" 1-8 Stoney and Sheby, Black Genesis 177 ' /. ' .. Random House Dictionary.

65· Dalby, ''African Elements," 77. 66. Texas newspaper article. 67. Julian Mason in American Speech ( 6) . sion of the etymology of buckaro/ 5 19 0 , 51-5 5, gIves a detailed discus68. Holm and Shilling, Bahamian Dictionary. 69. Dalby, ''African Element." 70. Ibid. 71. Wolof in origin: cf. hip-kat. 72. C. M. Woodward, "Word List," 9: Johnson, Folk Culture, 44-

Africanisms in American Culture

Africanisms in African American Names in the United States

108

109

73· Dalby, "African Element," 174·

~ewbell

Niles PUCkett, F~lk Beliefs of the Southern Negro (Chapel Hill' . nlverslty of North CarolIna Press, 1926), 18- 19. 10 7. Dalby, "African Element," 17 . 8 108. Ibid.

106.

74. Holm and Shilling, Dictionary. 75. Peter H. Wood, Black Majority: Negroes in Colonial South Carolina from I670 through the Stono Rebellion (New York: Knopf, 1974),32. 76. Frank A. Collymore, Barbadian Dialat (Bridgetown, Barbados: Advocate, 1957),26. 77. Dalby, "African Element," 179·

109. Ibid., 181.

78. Harold Courlander, Negro Folk Music US.A. (New York: Columbia University Press, 1963), 191.

110.

Dalby, "African Element," 181.

I I I.

Source: Winifred K. Vass.

112. Random J-fouse Dictionary, 7 6 7. 1I3· Ibid., 768. 114- Ibid.

79· Holm and Shilling', Dictionary; Dalby, "African Element," 179; Joseph E. Holloway, "Africanisms in Gullah Oral Tradition," Western Journal of Black Studies 13(3) (1989), 1I9. 80. Wentworth and Flexner, Dictionary of American Slang, 125.

TIS· Dalby, "African Element," 182. 1I6. Ibid.

81. Stetson Kennedy, Palmetto Country (New York: Duell, Sloan, 1942), 154-55.

II7· Ibid.

1I8. Beverly] Rob' h' I . Inson, t IS vo ume, chapter 12' Mitford McL d M hews, Some Sources of Southernisms (University: U~iversity of Al b eo P at194 8 ), 145; Winifred Kellerberge Vass Bantu Speaking Ii " a,/~aUress, States (Los A . I C ' el ttage OJ tile mted nge es: enter for Afro-American Studies UCLA ) 119 Rob' "Af" ' ,1979· . Inson, ncamsms and the Study of Folklore." 120. Ibid.

82. Dalby, "African Element." 83. Ibid. 84. Ibid. 85. Holm and Shilling, Dictionary. 86. Ibid., 180. 87. Ibid. 88. Ibid.

121. Ibid.

89. Ibid. 90. Ibid. 91. Ibid., Random House Dictionary,

582.

92. Turner, Africanisms in the Gullah Dialect, 19493· Random House Dictionary, 609.

94. Hurston, Mules and Men, 241, 281. 95. Robert Farris Thompson, this volume, chapter 10. 96. Dalby, "African Element," 180. 97. Jessie Gaston Mulira, this volume, chapter 5; N. W. Newell, in Journal of American Folklore 2 (1889), 44. 98. Turner, Africanisms in the Gullah Dialect. 99. Dalby, "African Element." 100. Ibid . 101.

Ibid.

102.

Ibid.

103. Ibid. 104. Ivlulira, "Case of Voodoo," 56. 105. Thomas, "South Texas Negro Folk Songs"; Vass, correspondence with M.adge B. MacLachlan, Jackson, Fla., regarding terms used by her childhood playmate on the turpentine "flats."

122. Ibid. 12 3. Dalby, "African Element," 182. 12 4. Source: Winifred K. Vass, linguist; informant. 12 5. Ibid. 126. Ibid.

12~. ]. L Dillard, All-American English (New York: Random House I ) 128. Dalby, "African Element," 182. ' 975· 12

9. Random House Dictionary, 794. 13 0 . Vass, Bantu Speaking Heritage. 13!. Ibid.

1]2. Wentworth and Flexner, Dictionary of American Sianu 33 I 1]3· Dalby, "African Element," 182. 0' IJ4 · Ibid.

135· Ibid . 136. Ibid , 137· Ibid. 1]8. Random House Dictionary, 9 2 9.

1J9· Dalby, "Afi-ican Element,"

182.

140. Ibid. 1

14 . \\1. A. B. Musgrave, "Ananci Stories," Folk-Lore Record 0(1) ( 88 ) .J

0 , ~3 - SS.

Africanisms in American Culture

110 142. Ibid., 183. 143. Ibid.

144. Ibid. 145. Ibid. 146 . Randorn House Dictionary,

1040.

147. Collymore, Barbadian Dialect, 63路 148. \\fentworth and Flexner, Dictionary of Arnerican Slang, 382.

149. Dalby, "African Element," 184. 150. Ibid . 151. Ibid. 152. Ibid. 153 Smith, Gullah, 28. 154- Randorn House Dictionary,

II2.

155. Wentworth and Flexner, Dictionary of Arnerican Slang, 401; Vass, Bantu Speaking Heritage, II3; Dalby, "African Heritage," 184.

'56. Dalby, "African Element," 184. 157 Ibid. 158. Ibid.

159. Ibid. 16o. Randorn House Dictionary, 1250.

161. Turner, Africanisrns in the Gullah Dialect; Dalby, "African Elements," 184.

162. Dalby, "African Element," 184. 163 . Ibid. 164 . Ibid. 165. Randorn House Dictionary; Vass, Bantu Speaking Heritage, II4. 166. Randorn House Dictionary; Vass, Bantu Speaking Heritage, I '4; Dalby, "African Element," 185. 167. Bradley, "\\ford-List," 67. 168. Dalby, "African Element," 185. 169. William A. Read, Louisiana-French, rev. ed. (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1963). 170. Dalby, "African Element," 185. 171. Ibid. If2. Ibid. 173. Randorn House Dictionary, 1652. 174. Dalby, "African Element." If5 . See jiggabbo. 176. Randorn House Dictionary, 767; Read, Louisiana-French, 128; Dalby, "African Element," 186.