DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49272#0299
THE WAYAO OF NYASALAND 283
and uncles as well. I am inclined to believe that the words primarily refer to a person’s
maternal and paternal relatives whose children bear the relationship of uwako to the person.
A strange point, however, crops up, namely, that the paternal aunts are called atati (atati
wakongwe) and their husbands atati again.
An elder brother is akulu, his younger brother mpwakwe, a sister mlumbu, mlumbu
wanandi and mlumbu wakulungwa, younger and elder sister.
Disease. Apart from old age, the native recognizes in all illness and death the hand of
an enemy or the result of transgression of some custom: some one has made medicine
against him, or he or some one else has broken a custom founded on superstition which is
visited on his head. These ideas are so deeply rooted in the native mind that it is with
difficulty any appropriate treatment will be received. They rely, rather, on some medicine-
man to cure them by medicine more powerful than that made against them. Even an or-
dinary accident or an attack of pneumonia is accounted for in this way.
The names given in speaking of sicknesses are, of course, applied rather to symptoms,
but in some cases where the symptom named is pathognomic of a disease, the word prac-
tically stands for the disease. The word used may imply the supposed cause or refer to
a resemblance to some object, or again simply state the part affected; thus chitumbo
(the belly) meaning stomach ache, meso (eyes), conjunctivitis, etc.
The following words most of which are found in the Reverend Dr. Hetherwick’s Yao
Language, give some idea of the Yao native’s conception of disease. The sense which the
above authority gives is not always quite the same as I would venture to give. I shall not
enter into the question of the diseases as such but only in so far as they bear on customs,
etc.
The word chilwele signifies any disease or illness; chitopa and chipindupindu refer to
epidemic diseases; the former refers to a disease of fowls and dogs characterized by wheezing
and hence is occasionally used for bronchitis in man. Chipindupindu refers to a series of
deaths from a cause unknown to the natives. The word chaola, which Hetherwick gives
as meaning a plague, rather means arrow poison, I think.
Chomboto: a liver disease of fowls.
Chipago: a congenital deformity of any kind (kupagwa — to be born with).
Chitwesime: a patch of white hair on the scalp of congenital origin.
Chisiwani (a cousin): the word used for a birth-mark or freckle; helical fistula is also
included. Children examine each other to see how many “ cousins ” each has; any-
one with none is made fun of.
Chindundumuli (tundumula = a big lump): a hunchback.
Chiwalula (ku-walula — to split): a “ splitting ” headache, or more commonly, medi-
cine by means of which the possessor can inflict pain or death.
Ching’alang’ala: a localized pain in the head.
Chisyungusyungu: giddiness.
and uncles as well. I am inclined to believe that the words primarily refer to a person’s
maternal and paternal relatives whose children bear the relationship of uwako to the person.
A strange point, however, crops up, namely, that the paternal aunts are called atati (atati
wakongwe) and their husbands atati again.
An elder brother is akulu, his younger brother mpwakwe, a sister mlumbu, mlumbu
wanandi and mlumbu wakulungwa, younger and elder sister.
Disease. Apart from old age, the native recognizes in all illness and death the hand of
an enemy or the result of transgression of some custom: some one has made medicine
against him, or he or some one else has broken a custom founded on superstition which is
visited on his head. These ideas are so deeply rooted in the native mind that it is with
difficulty any appropriate treatment will be received. They rely, rather, on some medicine-
man to cure them by medicine more powerful than that made against them. Even an or-
dinary accident or an attack of pneumonia is accounted for in this way.
The names given in speaking of sicknesses are, of course, applied rather to symptoms,
but in some cases where the symptom named is pathognomic of a disease, the word prac-
tically stands for the disease. The word used may imply the supposed cause or refer to
a resemblance to some object, or again simply state the part affected; thus chitumbo
(the belly) meaning stomach ache, meso (eyes), conjunctivitis, etc.
The following words most of which are found in the Reverend Dr. Hetherwick’s Yao
Language, give some idea of the Yao native’s conception of disease. The sense which the
above authority gives is not always quite the same as I would venture to give. I shall not
enter into the question of the diseases as such but only in so far as they bear on customs,
etc.
The word chilwele signifies any disease or illness; chitopa and chipindupindu refer to
epidemic diseases; the former refers to a disease of fowls and dogs characterized by wheezing
and hence is occasionally used for bronchitis in man. Chipindupindu refers to a series of
deaths from a cause unknown to the natives. The word chaola, which Hetherwick gives
as meaning a plague, rather means arrow poison, I think.
Chomboto: a liver disease of fowls.
Chipago: a congenital deformity of any kind (kupagwa — to be born with).
Chitwesime: a patch of white hair on the scalp of congenital origin.
Chisiwani (a cousin): the word used for a birth-mark or freckle; helical fistula is also
included. Children examine each other to see how many “ cousins ” each has; any-
one with none is made fun of.
Chindundumuli (tundumula = a big lump): a hunchback.
Chiwalula (ku-walula — to split): a “ splitting ” headache, or more commonly, medi-
cine by means of which the possessor can inflict pain or death.
Ching’alang’ala: a localized pain in the head.
Chisyungusyungu: giddiness.