In South Africa “umlungu” is a phrase that’s generally used to seek advice from white individuals. It comes from isiXhosa, the language of the nation’s Xhosa individuals. It’s all the time been a thriller how the phrase originated or what it truly means as a result of no human beings had been known as umlungu earlier than the arrival of white individuals within the nation by ship. There was, nevertheless, a phrase “ubulungu” which meant “that deposited out by the ocean” or sea scum.
Whereas it might have been thought of rude prior to now, right this moment umlungu is a well mannered phrase. Many white South Africans don’t thoughts calling themselves umlungu – there are even T-shirt ranges bearing the phrase. And it’s now additionally generally used to seek advice from black individuals – which means “my employer” or “a rich individual”. So how did umlungu come to alter its which means?
As a linguist who teaches and research isiXhosa, I just lately revealed a examine that considers the phrase from a sociolinguistic perspective. Sociolinguistics might be outlined because the hyperlink between language and society. I selected to border my examine by means of this idea as a result of a language isn’t unbiased of the individuals who converse it. People form phrases to mirror the altering context of their society.
The phrase umlungu has taken on a number of meanings because of historic occasions, displaying how language evolves by means of social interactions.
Colonial instances
In response to one examine, the time period umlungu arose from an incident by which shipwrecked white individuals had been deposited from the ocean. The ocean’s tendency is to toss something out that’s soiled in an effort to clear itself. The shipwrecked white individuals got the title “abelungu/umlungu”, which means “filth that’s rejected by the ocean and deposited on the shore”. A few of these shipwrecked remained and the clan title Abelungu was used to report their kids.
The phrases umlungu and abelungu (plural) are utilized by Nguni individuals throughout South Africa. The Nguni are a big cluster of Bantu-speaking ethnic teams in southern Africa who’ve performed an necessary function within the nation’s historical past and tradition. The Nguni ethnic groupings embody the Zulu, Xhosa, Swazi and Ndebele. These subgroups share linguistic and cultural similarities whereas adhering to their very own traditions and practices.
In response to Zulu historians, white individuals arriving in South Africa had been referred to as “abelumbi” (magicians). It’s because Shaka Zulu, the highly effective chief of the Zulu Kingdom, witnessed a white individual killing a person with out touching him (with a gun). He acknowledged that solely a witch might kill an individual with none bodily contact. Consequently, he referred to as them abelumbi, which was later altered to abelungu (philanthropists) as time handed.
Learn extra:
Shaka Zulu is again in popular culture – how the well-known king has been portrayed over the a long time
Varied occasions all through the colonial period compelled black individuals into poverty, significantly after the Nongqawuse episode. Nongqawuse was a Xhosa prophetess who, in 1856, had a imaginative and prescient that if the Xhosa individuals killed all their cattle and destroyed their crops, the spirits would drive the British colonisers out of South Africa and convey a couple of new period of prosperity. Many Xhosa individuals then slaughtered their very own cattle and destroyed their very own crops. Some individuals died due to starvation.
Apartheid
This poverty was exacerbated below apartheid – an organised system of white minority rule in South Africa that imposed racial segregation and discrimination from 1948 till the early Nineteen Nineties.
An umlungu was an esteemed member of society in the course of the apartheid period due to the facility and authority that they possessed. It’s my view that due to the apartheid system, black individuals had been psychologically influenced to understand the whole lot linked with a white individual as higher and of a better customary.
As a result of actuality of colonisation and apartheid, most black South Africans had been compelled to work for white individuals and so an umlungu got here to be outlined as a white boss or employer. With time, this got here to incorporate all bosses or employers – even black individuals got here to seek advice from a black boss as umlungu.
Right now
I argue that the views of black individuals towards white individuals had a major affect on the phrase altering and gaining quite a few optimistic meanings. The idea that something finer, richer and whiter in color is umlungu has given rise to new optimistic connotations for the time period. The phrase umlungu right this moment can seek advice from an employer, a black individual of a sure ethnicity with a lighter pores and skin color, somebody of upper standing, a rich individual – or just a white individual.
A black one who owns and runs a farm like a white individual utilizing a labour tenancy association, for instance, is referred to as an umlungu. College college students could also be referred to as abelungu since they symbolize class mobility and luxurious.
Learn extra:
Zulu vs Xhosa: how colonialism used language to divide South Africa’s two largest ethnic teams
Xhosa individuals have additional tailored the time period, with some naming their kids Nobelungu (the one who’s of white individuals), Umlungwana (younger white individual) or Mlungukazi (white lady).
Social class and standing affect the evolution of language. Change can be associated to the relative security of a gaggle’s standing in society, with lower-status teams typically imitating higher-status ones. Consequently, these recognized as abelungu, significantly among the many black inhabitants, are seen as having ascended the social ladder.
“Umlungu” demonstrates how the which means of a phrase can change to mirror a altering society. Language isn’t static, it’s a rising and shifting manner of reflecting the world.
