Name of the Day

[muckefuck]

Munamwene Katota kalya Vwongo "Prince Hammerer the Eater of Brains" (Mbunda chief)

Comments

[mollpeartree.livejournal.com]

Was he a ZOMBIE?!!

[piratejenny.livejournal.com]

Braiiiinnnnnssssss!

[febrile.livejournal.com]

My parents were going to name me that if I had been a girl. As it is, I'm a Junior.

[snowy-owlet.livejournal.com]

But it's so gauche to use a hammer to get the brains out.

[lhn.livejournal.com]

"You see that building over there? I laid every brick in there, but do they call me 'the bricklayer'? You see that building? I installed every pipe, but do they call me 'the plumber'? But you eat one brain..."

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

Actually, I'm pretty sure it's at least two. I don't know any Mbunda, but if it works like other Bantu languages, vy- is a plural prefix. The corresponding singular would be a reflex of proto-Bantu *ki-, probably ch-. So I suspect the Eater of One Brain would be Katota kalya Chwongo.

Maybe one of the two times, he didn't know it was a brain.

[lhn.livejournal.com]

Is it still one brain once it's in a form suitable for consumption? Compare "dashed his brains out" in English, which doesn't mean he started with more than one. (That may be idiosyncratic to our language, of course.)

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

Your special pleading in an attempt to rehabilitate the memory of Chief Katota is becoming endearing.

Well, the *ki-/vi- noun class is generally limited to count-nouns. Mass nouns (like most liquids) are generally in the *ma- class. Of course, with over a thousand Bantu languages out there, the details of any one can vary quite a bit.

Now I'm curious to know more. If only I had access to a library with an extensive collection of literature on Bantu languages...

[lhn.livejournal.com]

Your special pleading in an attempt to rehabilitate the memory of Chief Katota is becoming endearing.

Well, mostly I'm just trying to recast an old joke. (And the Bantu language group is simply not cooperating.)