Cushitic

Note 125: Southern Cushitic Ma'a roró "plain"; proto-Ruvu * - lolo "valley."

Societies, Religion, and History: Central East Tanzanians and the World They Created, c. 200 BCE to 1800 CE 2008

Bondei mndele "girl"; Zigula mdele, "girl"; Ehret, The Historical Reconstruction of Southern Cushitic Phonology and Vocabulary, 164.

Societies, Religion, and History: Central East Tanzanians and the World They Created, c. 200 BCE to 1800 CE 2008

This noun derived from an old Southern Cushitic verb that originally meant "to shout."

Societies, Religion, and History: Central East Tanzanians and the World They Created, c. 200 BCE to 1800 CE 2008

Instead, it appears to have been transferred into PNECB from Cushitic speakers. 90

Societies, Religion, and History: Central East Tanzanians and the World They Created, c. 200 BCE to 1800 CE 2008

Because our understanding of this affliction is limited, and also because there is an overall lack of additional medicinal or medical words shared among Ruvu and Southern Cushitic speakers, many questions remain about why such a word might have been borrowed, particularly since * chilalu, which was already present in Ruvu lexis, previously named a "shouting" affliction.

Societies, Religion, and History: Central East Tanzanians and the World They Created, c. 200 BCE to 1800 CE 2008

Even in the face of increasing focus on patrilineages in coastal communities, and contemporaneous exchanges with patrilineal Njombe -, Eastern-Sahelian -, and Cushitic-speaking populations on their northern and western borders, Ruvu societies did not relent from keeping the prominence of the matrilineage entrenched in their cultures.

Societies, Religion, and History: Central East Tanzanians and the World They Created, c. 200 BCE to 1800 CE 2008

PSC * boohare Southern Cushitic Ma'a bure "short rains"; Proto-PNECB * - bUli "short rains, lesser rains"; e.g.,

Societies, Religion, and History: Central East Tanzanians and the World They Created, c. 200 BCE to 1800 CE 2008

The proto-Southern Cushitic root meant something like "crowd, gathering."

Societies, Religion, and History: Central East Tanzanians and the World They Created, c. 200 BCE to 1800 CE 2008

This word, like * mlao, derives from an exchange with Southern Cushitic speakers, though this exchange likely dates to the proto-Wami period of a couple of centuries later than the PNECB era.

Societies, Religion, and History: Central East Tanzanians and the World They Created, c. 200 BCE to 1800 CE 2008

For a discussion of the history of * Mulungu "God" and the acquisition of its Southern Cushitic nuance, see Ehret, African Classical Age, 167 – 8.

Societies, Religion, and History: Central East Tanzanians and the World They Created, c. 200 BCE to 1800 CE 2008