ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1993 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1993 ************************************ From: "Sara L Friedemann" 17 Mar 2000 Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You wanted to know if the African feminine name was used at all between 1450 and 1600. Here is the information we have found. As you are aware, sources for medieval sub-Saharan African names are few and far between. Hopefully, though, what little we have found will be of use to you. We did not find in our references, but we have a guess at its origin. We suspect it is a modern use of an African word as a given name; this is not an unusual way to invent names in the modern African-American community. may derive from a language in the Bantu family, spoken on the west cost. Both the initial and the are more typical of Bantu languages than other African languages. Additionally, in Swahili, a Bantu language, is a common noun classifier. In one source for modern names, is identified as an Ovimbundu name, derived from the Umbundu word "the earth that blocks the passage behind a burrowing animal" [1]. Umbundu is a Bantu language [2] We hope that this letter has been useful to you, and that you will not hesitate to write again if any part was unclear or if you have further questions. Research and commentary on this letter was provided by Arval Benicoeur, Talan Gwynek, Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn, and Teceangl Bach. For the Academy, ~Aryanhwy merch Catmael, 17Mar00 --------------------------------------- References: [1] Browder, Sue, _The New Age Baby Name Book_, 3rd. ed. (New York: Workman Pub., c.1998) [2] Bernard Comrie, ed., _The World's Major Languages_ (Oxford: OUP, 1990); the article is 'Swahili and the Bantu Languages', by Benji Wald.