DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49272#0302
286
HARVARD AFRICAN STUDIES
Manyongolosi: round-worm of dogs or found in the ground.
Wakongwe wajumu: a barren woman (lit. dry).
Chisungula: sterility in the male.
Chisyungula or gojo: an impotent man or Mundu jua iyoyo: a useless man!
Mpuli: impotent.
Mchese (ku-chera — to cut off): a “ cut man a man soon after he has been castrated.
Mtonga: a eunuch after he has become fat.
N amtundira (nalimvimvi Chin.): the word is derived from kutunda, to micturate. Na-
tives say that when disturbed, the insect of this name which is a locustid, Enyaliopsis
durandi, makes water which falling on the skin of the passer-by causes ulceration.
I have seen a variety of cases of extensive ulceration due to syphilis, etc., assigned to
the effects of this insect; I have, however, shown that it does secrete a corroding
fluid from pores at the sides of the body which dropped on to the skin will dissolve
the superficial layers of the epidermis and should such abrasions become infected,
ulceration may, of course, result.
Utendeu: tremor, similar to the movements of one of the wasps.
Manjenje: tremor of old age, paralysis agitans.
The preceding short list of words will give some idea of the richness of the language in
some directions and also its limitations. There now follows an account of diseases which are
based on superstition, generally connected with the idea of uncleanness or the transgression
of some rule of life. Whatever the symptoms, if there has been a transgression, the disease
is labelled with the name of the disease supposed to follow the act. Similar diseases are to
be remarked among the other tribes in the country; some of those relating to the Anyanja
I have already mentioned,1 and the following may be read as an amplification of the re-
marks previously made.
Chinyera (Kanyera Chin.) from kunya, to defecate: At the birth of a child, if the con-
tents of the bowel (meconium) are passed before the body is born (as often happens in
breech presentations), the child is said to be “ born with disease.” One of the women at-
tending the confinement will always go out and inform the husband of what has happened,
saying, “ Apali ‘chenene,” (it is born well) or “ Apali ni chilwele,” (it is born with disease).
This only refers to the passage of meconium and not to any antenatal disease.
When this significant event has happened, the husband may not occupy the same sleep-
ing mat as his wife and have intercourse with her until the child of its own accord crawls
from the mother’s sleeping mat to that of her husband on the other side of the hut; Ku-
pitisya mwanache ku magono (Ku-pititsa mum ku mpasa. Chin.) = “to go the child to
the mat.” Should the husband disregard this custom, he will sicken with Chinyera. The
symptoms commonly ascribed to Chinyera are pain in the loins and in the hypogastrium.
1 ‘ Notes on some tribes of British Central Africa,’ op. cit.
HARVARD AFRICAN STUDIES
Manyongolosi: round-worm of dogs or found in the ground.
Wakongwe wajumu: a barren woman (lit. dry).
Chisungula: sterility in the male.
Chisyungula or gojo: an impotent man or Mundu jua iyoyo: a useless man!
Mpuli: impotent.
Mchese (ku-chera — to cut off): a “ cut man a man soon after he has been castrated.
Mtonga: a eunuch after he has become fat.
N amtundira (nalimvimvi Chin.): the word is derived from kutunda, to micturate. Na-
tives say that when disturbed, the insect of this name which is a locustid, Enyaliopsis
durandi, makes water which falling on the skin of the passer-by causes ulceration.
I have seen a variety of cases of extensive ulceration due to syphilis, etc., assigned to
the effects of this insect; I have, however, shown that it does secrete a corroding
fluid from pores at the sides of the body which dropped on to the skin will dissolve
the superficial layers of the epidermis and should such abrasions become infected,
ulceration may, of course, result.
Utendeu: tremor, similar to the movements of one of the wasps.
Manjenje: tremor of old age, paralysis agitans.
The preceding short list of words will give some idea of the richness of the language in
some directions and also its limitations. There now follows an account of diseases which are
based on superstition, generally connected with the idea of uncleanness or the transgression
of some rule of life. Whatever the symptoms, if there has been a transgression, the disease
is labelled with the name of the disease supposed to follow the act. Similar diseases are to
be remarked among the other tribes in the country; some of those relating to the Anyanja
I have already mentioned,1 and the following may be read as an amplification of the re-
marks previously made.
Chinyera (Kanyera Chin.) from kunya, to defecate: At the birth of a child, if the con-
tents of the bowel (meconium) are passed before the body is born (as often happens in
breech presentations), the child is said to be “ born with disease.” One of the women at-
tending the confinement will always go out and inform the husband of what has happened,
saying, “ Apali ‘chenene,” (it is born well) or “ Apali ni chilwele,” (it is born with disease).
This only refers to the passage of meconium and not to any antenatal disease.
When this significant event has happened, the husband may not occupy the same sleep-
ing mat as his wife and have intercourse with her until the child of its own accord crawls
from the mother’s sleeping mat to that of her husband on the other side of the hut; Ku-
pitisya mwanache ku magono (Ku-pititsa mum ku mpasa. Chin.) = “to go the child to
the mat.” Should the husband disregard this custom, he will sicken with Chinyera. The
symptoms commonly ascribed to Chinyera are pain in the loins and in the hypogastrium.
1 ‘ Notes on some tribes of British Central Africa,’ op. cit.