Speech
by
H.E. Yoweri K. Museveni
President of the Republic of Uganda
On the launch of the Runyankore-Rukiga Thesaurus
7th November, 2012
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0
Serena, UICC
Language is a means of communication among human
beings. It is also a store of human knowledge. You cannot
describe what you do not know.
I have for a long time
known that the Bantu dialects and, possibly, the other
African languages are much richer than the European
languages.
The only problem was that many of these
dialects were not written down.
The Banyankore have a
history of writing in the form of hieroglyphics. Unlike in
Egypt where scarcity of water compelled people to keep
records, in tropics, awash with water, food, building
materials and many others, such a need did not exist. The
hieroglyphics, therefore, only ended up as decorations on
walls, or on food utensils, etc.
With limited writing and with our elders fast dying off, I got
very worried that we may lose these unique languages. It
is good that I learnt English for fourteen years (1953-1966).
I am able to compare that language with RunyankoreRukiga, which I know very well.
1
This Runyankore-Rukiga is a dialect that is a sub-group of
many dialects that are spoken by the interlacustrine
Bantus – the Bantus of the Lakes.
I regard all these
dialects as one language. Why? This is because they are
mutually intelligible.
If I can understand what you are
saying without translation, even if you are speaking in a
slightly different way, then, we are speaking the same
language. This one language for the interlacustrine Bantus
is in concentric circles. Within the inner circle in terms of
mutual intelligibility, there is the Runyankore-RukigaRuhororo; the next circle comprises Runyoro-Rutooro,
Runyambo of Karagwe, Ruhaya of Bukoba (Buhaya),
Rujinja of Biharamulo-Sengerema Tanzania and Rusuubi
(Tanzania);
Lusoga,
Luruuli,
Lugungu,
Lugweere,
Luramoogi, Lusiki form the next circle; Luganda forms the
next circle; Runyarwanda-Rurundi form the next circle,
Lugisu-Lusamya-Luluya (Kenya) form the next circle; and,
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finally,
Lukonjo-Lunande of Congo form the final circle.
Up to circle no. 5, I, a Runyankore-Rukiga speaker, can
listen in a relaxed manner and understand almost
everything without translations, just occasionally inquiring
about a slightly different word here and there.
Beyond
that, I must listen very carefully and ask frequently about,
sometimes, the same words spoken differently.
When I
visited the former Vice President of Kenya, Mzee Moody
Awori, for instance, the women came in singing: “kingula
Mlanga, Museveni yaizire”.
Runyankore than this.
Nothing could be more
In Runyankore, you would say:
“igura omuryango Museveni yaizire”.
Nevertheless, the
word kukingula is also used to mean to open although, I
think, the Banyankore only use it in reference to open
ekihongore (the calf-pen). Otherwise, they use igura.
Beyond these 7 circles, the Bantu dialects have a lot of
similarities. However, you cannot easily get the sense. It is
amazing that a foreigner like H.M. Stanley could easily and
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quickly see this but the Africans cannot see it. He pointed
out that from Ituri in Congo up to Mwanza in Tanzania,
they used the translators who spoke the “Hima” language.
By
the
“Hima”
language
he
meant
precisely
these
interlacustrine dialects of the 7 circles (Runyoro in BuniaCongo,
Rukonjo,
Rusongora,
Runyankore,
Luganda,
Runyambo, Rujinja, etc. At Mwanza, they had to transfer
to the Lusukuma-Runyamwezi translators.
The only problem is that we do not have an agreed name
for this language.
Prof. Ndoleriire of Makerere called it
Runyakitara. Should all of us adopt this? I have no major
problem; however, when you use Runyakitara, the Luganda
speakers feel excluded because, in terms of political
history, the three counties of Kyadondo, Busiro and
Mawokota pulled out of the Kitara Empire quite early.
Then, hostilities between the two units characterized their
subsequent relations.
Could we not look at also other
possible descriptions? How about Rucwezi on account of
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the common linkages to that dynasty – the Bachwezi.
Alternatively, we could also look at the geography of our
area. We have our lakes – the Nyanjas. Can we not call
this language Lunyanja, Lunyanyanja, etc – the language of
the lakes. This is to avoid duplicating the use of the word
“kinyanja” which is used in Malawi, Zambia, Mozambique
and Tanzania, unless of course, we want to refer to this
language as Kinyanja (North) and the other one as
Kinyanja (South).
These dialects are much closer, I am told, than the dialects
of German or Arabic.
I am told that with some of the
dialects of the two languages, you cannot understand each
other.
That is why in the case of Arabic, they took the
dialect of the Koran as the standard Arabic and in the case
of German, they took the dialect of the Bible, which means
the tribal language of Martin Luther, as the standard
German. In our case, we are much luckier. These dialects
are mutually intelligible.
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Once I was determined to capture especially the vocabulary
of this unique dialect, Runyankore-Rukiga, I decided to
research into most of the Runyankore words whose
meanings are not well known to me on account of colonial
intrusion. You capture these words in people’s names, in
classical
songs,
riddles,
rhymes,
etc.
Names
like:
Rusiribya, Rutanyohoka, Runonzya, Katsimbazi and many
others.
It was a terrible thing that I did not know the
meaning of these words yet I was a much better
Runyankore speaker than many people, especially the
young ones.
It was at this stage, that I got in touch with three
academicians in the persons of: Prof. Emmanuel Muranga,
Mrs. Alice Muhoozi and Mr. Gilbert Gumoshabe.
trained linguists gave me one good idea.
These
They told me,
rightly, that it is difficult to just sit down and remember
words from your head.
They advised that it is better to
collect
by
words
activity
activity,
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such
as
fighting,
agriculture, animal husbandry, herbal medicine, marriage,
to mention only a few. We adopted this and it has worked
so well.
We have collected about 22,000 words in the
Thesaurus which we have compiled.
The reader will be
able to see the richness of these dialects.
instance, the English verb “to stand”.
Rukiga equivalent is: “okwemerera”.
word.
You take, for
The RunyankoreThis is the general
However, there are other verbs that describe the
different ways of standing.
okuhanda
(to
be
Okwetsimba (to stand still);
transfixed
or
to
stand
aimlessly);
kubambira (to stand in); kuzaagira (to be stagnant), etc.
To do all this we were assisted by a number of elders. Mzee
Amosi Kaguta, my father, was a principal source of
information. Other elders include: Mzee Rutanyohoka, the
late Mzee Israel Katuuka, Mzee Mutentsa of Kabula, Mzee
Kagunga of Ntungamo, the late Mzee Kirindi of Ibanda, the
late Mzee Rutasheenya of Rubanga Ntungamo and many
others whom I cannot all include here.
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These dialects’ superiority to the foreign languages I have
come across, is illustrated even in the technical fields of
artisanship and manufacturing. I will use the example of
metal-work (iron) to illustrate this by reading what is
contained in this Thesaurus from pages 318 to 320
regarding iron works.
I wrote this piece after having
extensively de-briefed Mzee George Kajuga of Ishaka, one of
the few surviving Baheesi (black-smiths).
I pointed out
that it was a shame for the modern education system not
to expose students to the indigenous African technology.
Banyankore were organized in castes. The two well known
castes are the ones of the cultivators (Abahingi) and the
cattle-keepers (Abariisa).
Yet there were other castes.
These were always family based.
Certain families would
specialize in different trades: blacksmiths (Abahesi); barkcloth-makers
(Abakomagyi);
leather-workers
(Abahazi,
Abaremi); clay-workers (Ababumbi, Abanogoozi); woodworkers (Ababaizi); arrow-workers (Abatanagi); etc.
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In this article, having utilized the unique knowledge of
Mzee George Kajuga of Ishaka, I would like to capture for
you the trade of the Abahesi (blacksmiths). What is
amazing and unique are the technical terms in the
Runyankore language. While English uses descriptions of
different
scientific
and
technological
processes,
Runyankore has got unique technical terms. One example
is the process described as “cold-shrinkage” in English.
This is a process of heating a metal to red-hot and then
cooling it suddenly by immersing it in cold water.
That
sudden cooling, apparently, makes the metal stronger. The
Banyankore blacksmiths use one word for this: kukaza. Of
course, I have had occasion to quote other examples from
other aspects demonstrating the same point.
striking is the English word: fore-head.
The most
In many African
dialects they use one word: ekyenyi in Luganda, obuso in
Runyankore and other Runyakitara dialects.
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Coming back to the blacksmith vocabulary, we start with
the grass thatched shed for this purpose, called ekirubi. I
do not know what they would call it in English other than
the general word of shed. Within the kirubi, there is the
furnace itself. This furnace is broken into parts. The fireplace is called iziiko which is circular with a hole of about
one foot in the middle.
You notice the closeness of this
word iziiko with the Swahili word jiiko, meaning kitchen.
African languages put to shame the reactionaries who
always proclaim how different and unconnected the African
peoples are – total falsehood. Joined to the iziiko (the fireplace) is a funnel called encheru in Runyankore.
The
funnel is linked to clay-pipes known as ebichunga.
This
word bichunga is also used for another item used to scent
milk-pots (okwitira).
These bichunga have got a curved
edge known as omuhiro – like a ringed edge to the kichunga
(the clay-pipe). Around this pipe-edge (omuhiro) is fastened
a cattle-skin (oruhu).
This process of fastening the skin
around the clay-pipes is called okugyema. The usual tying
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in other situations is called okukoma.
In the skin is
inserted wooden-rods known as endiindi (oruriindi –
singular).
It is these ndiindi that are held by the
blacksmith to blow air, through the bichunga, through the
encheru to the iziiko in order to enhance oxygen supply to
the fire when the actual time comes for melting iron-ore or
iron itself. In English, apparently, the four are called one
word: ‘bellow’.
I would like to know whether the
constituent parts of the bellow have got specific names
from those who may know. However, for Runyankore the
four parts: encheru, ebichunga, oruhu and endiindi are
called omujuba (the bellow).
The process of pumping
oxygen into the iziiko is known as okujuguta.
Having described for you the shed of the blacksmith, the
fire-place and the bellows, let us now go to the rawmaterial, the iron-ore.
The English, obviously, found
difficulty in defining this important compound – the ironore. The best they could do was to describe it – the ore of
iron.
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The Banyankore, however, had a more precise and unique
term – obutare.
Other iron compounds are called
differently: oburimbi (19.35% iron, 6.24% aluminium,
37.6% silicate and others); enoombe (10.6% iron, 8.1%
aluminium, 35.2% silicate and others); ebisooni is of three
types:
grey
(5.4%
iron,
6.9%
magnesium,
2.15%
aluminium, 36.9% silicate and others); and reddish pink
(1.98% iron, 9.45% aluminium, 42.0 % silicate and others);
white (12.5% aluminium, 41.8% silicate, 15.8% carbonates
and others). Many names of places are derived from these
compounds. For example, Butare means there is iron-ore
there; Burimbi means there is iron, aluminium and silicate;
Noombe means the area has iron, aluminium and silicate.
Kebisooni means the area has iron, aluminium, silicate,
and magnesium. The iron-ore is first crashed into pieces.
Then, it is tied in a bundle with the use of a grass known
as eyojwa (Rhodenta kageransis) and ropes from a plant
known as emishinya. According to Mzee Kajuga, eyojwa is
preferred because it burns completely (okuyonga).
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This
bundle of iron-ore fragments is known as omujego.
Bundles of food or fire-wood would be called differently:
omutwaro, omushenga for food, oruba, ekiba for fire-wood
and grass respectively. These bundles in plural are called
emijego. Pieces of dry papyrus stems (enkorogoto) are put
in the hole in the iziiko.
The lowest ones are packed
vertically and the ones on top are laid horizontally on top of
the other ones.
Then, iron-bars are laid across the fire-
place – leaving spaces between them.
Across these iron-
bars, the emijego (iron-ore bundles) are put.
Then,
charcoal from special trees is piled up around the emijego.
As many as ten emijego can be dealt with at one go.
However, before you pile the charcoal, you light the
nkorogoto with fire – these are the dry papyrus stems.
Once the charcoal is piled and the fire is burning, you start
blasting the air into the furnace by the use of the omujuba
(the bellows). This is called okujuguta. It is done by men,
continuously, in relays. It can go on for about ten hours.
You may start the process at 4.00 a.m. in the morning and
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continue up to 2.00 p.m. in the afternoon.
time you are replenishing the charcoal.
During this
This charcoal is
from certain trees only: omukoyooyo, omuhungye, omurera,
obugando or black-wattle.
After the pumping of oxygen has gone on for about ten
hours, you will begin noticing sparks similar to those of
welding. That will mean that iron has been separated from
iron-ore and the material is now liquid instead of solid. It
is also no longer red-hot but actually almost white – ‘like
the moon’ our blacksmiths say.
These sparks are called
amasasi (same words used for bullets).
It seems when
bullets were introduced into our society by Arabs, our
people compared them to these blacksmith sparks. Hence,
the
name
amasasi
or
isasi
(singular).
Once
the
blacksmiths saw the sparks, they knew that melting (hence
separation of iron from oxygen) was taking place.
The
molten iron would keep dripping into the hole in the fireplace.
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During the blasting, another process would take place.
This is the controlled process of the surface temperature of
the burning charcoal by sprinkling water on the top layer.
This
process
is
called
kuzimiza
whereby,
using
an
instrument of loosened fibres similar to a fly-whisker
known as eisiza, the blacksmith would sprinkle water, from
time to time, over the top layer of the hot charcoal. The
purpose of this was to create a type of upper insulation for
the heat so that the heat is directed downwards to the ironore.
This water would be got from a hole next to the
omujuba.
This hole is called ekizimirizo.
The verb
okuzimiza meant to reduce the surface temperature of the
top charcoal as already described. I forgot to point out that
the iron-bars laid across the fire-place to hold the iron-ore
bundles (emijego) are called ebikingisirizo (holders of the
emijego).
The other synonym for omujego (the bundle of
iron-ore pieces) is called akarambatsi. Again, the closeness
between the verb okuzimiza and the Swahili word kuzimya
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moto is amazing. It means to put out the fire. However, in
the Runyankore of blacksmiths, it means to control the
fire.
Once the sparking has gone on for some time, the blasting
(okujuguta) is stopped and the fire is allowed to die down.
It is left to cool overnight. The following day, the lump of
metal is got out, the ashes of charcoal removed, the hole in
the fire-place filled with soil and the slugs removed. These
slugs (the remainder of the iron-ore after the iron has been
removed) are called emomo. The blacksmith now has got
iron (ekyooma).
The next phase, on another day, is to reheat this metal to
achieve two things: make it purer and attach the iron lump
to a holder for future handling – a type of a very long ladle
for holding the iron-lump.
omureengo.
This long handle is called
On account of heating, the mureengo gets
joined to the metal-lump like the spoon and its handle or
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ladle.
The omureengo cannot be held directly with bare
hands. It will be too hot. A wooden handle is attached. It
is called embago.
The rich Runyankore language is
inexhaustible. The wooden handle for panga (omuhoro) is
called ekirindi; totally different name.
Now that you have iron and it is attached to a holder
(omureengo), the next phase is to flatten it – to make it a
type of a thick sheet (ekibanda) instead of being round
(embumburi) or oblong (omwongo-like).
How do you do
this? You, again, heat and, in addition, use two big and
special stones.
One is called oruhiija (the anvil) and the
other one is called omutsiindo (the hammer).
Stones for
other purposes are given different names e.g. orubeengo;
and so are the hammers for different purposes e.g.
enyondo. However, for the blacksmiths these are specific
names: oruhiija and omutsiindo (musiindo in one of the
accents).
These special gadgets are made out of a stone
known as omuyumbwe.
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Dr. Otiti, Dr. Kwesiga and their team will have to describe
for us the types of these stones in modern geological
language.
Once you have flattened iron attached to the long handle
(omureengo), you are now in business for tools (spears,
pangas, hoes, etc). How are these made? Whenever you
want to make any item, you go to your metal, heat it and
then cut the piece you want for further shaping. Here you
use a strengthened metal-cutter known as eshinjo. This is
a little bit sharpened at the lower end and had gone
through the process of okukaza (cold-shrinkage) where you
heat a piece of metal to red-hot and, then, cool it suddenly
by immersing it in ekizimirizo (the cooling trough or
hollow).
The Banyankore and other Africans had mastered also the
process of wire-making – thinning metal to wire – like
Casement does with the steel-bars and wires out of billets
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today.
The Banyankore called it okukweega (pulling).
When it comes to ordinary pulling, the Banyankore call it
kunyurura. Kukweega, therefore, appears to have been for
blacksmithing.
The metal thinning and lengthening was
necessary to be able to make thin-sized items such as
empiindu for stitching crafts and textiles, orumweiso for
shaving hair, omusyo for cutting meat or anything as well
as special knives for harvesting millet (kugyesha).
It is
interesting to note that the Baganda use the word: kumwa
to refer to shaving hair.
The Banyankore use a different
word in modern times (kutega). However, the instrument
they were using was called orumweiso – the instrument for
kumwa. This would mean that in the past, the Banyankore
may have used a common word with the Baganda.
Now that we have got iron, we need to introduce you to the
instruments that are used for cutting and shaping metal
products. I have told you about eshinjo – the metal-cutter.
The big eshinjo (empango) is for cutting iron; the small
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eshinjo (enkye) is for cutting copper, brass, aluminium, etc.
To cut metals you use eshinjo by hitting it with a heavy
hammer known as Rwatampiija.
At this stage, I will simply record some of the names of the
instruments without elaborating them because I also need
to understand their functions more. These are butundu, a
hammer with a hole; emwangato, a certain small hammer;
eikombe; omutweero and the verb is kutweera; enguta – this
is for hollowing ebyaanzi; enyeyo – is also for hollowing
ebyaanzi, possibly to a finer stage; emparo – a smoothener
of ebyaanzi; etc.
Before I forget, I should point out that the process of
joining metals or welding is called okuramuura. Once
certain instruments are shaped, they can be called
different names. If you take spears, for example, the one
which is sharp on one side and blunt on the other side is
called ekibeezi or ekihuuga. This was used for hunting or
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fighting. The one that is sharp on both edges is omutaari.
This was normally held by high profiled people such as
kings or chiefs.
It is clear, therefore, that the Africans had a comprehensive
metal industry – totally vertically integrated – from rawmaterial (iron-ore), to the iron, iron-tools for making other
items and the final use – items themselves – spears
(amachumu), pangas (emihoro), axes (empango), swords
(rurara), hoes (efuka), etc.
Due to instability, our past
leaders and the educational system did not appear to grasp
this fact. When you look at a modern steel plant, the only
difference is in the use of motors, using electricity or diesel,
to make the machines do the work instead of the muscles
of the Africans. Otherwise, science does not appear to be
very different. I am waiting for comments from my science
team of Prof. Otiti (Physics), Dr. Kwesiga (Industrial
Engineering), Dr. Stephen Nyanzi (Chemistry) and their
team. What is clear is that the Banyankore and I am sure
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other Africans had unique and richer technical terms than
the Europeans including the Latin whose technical terms
are so much loved by scientists.
Why, for instance, say
acacia hohii, etc., when there are unique words for these
acacias among the African languages? Every acacia type
has
a
name:
obugando;
omutongore;
omunyinya;
omutyaaza; omukiinga; etc. I am curious to know the logic.
The same goes for the animals: bush-back; roan-antelope;
spring-back; etc. There are unique African names: empara,
enuuma,
enzaza,
ekishwaaga,
enyemera,
enkorongo,
engabi, esirabo, enjobe, etc.
While I have learnt the blacksmithing, the ceramics, the
wood-work, etc., processes from others when I was already
old, I learnt cattle-keeping from infancy. I can, therefore,
say without equivocation that if our modern scientists
could master our indigenous technology, they would find
work much easier.
This is why I rejected so many
recommendations of the veterinary officers in Uganda in
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respect of cattle and insisted on modified indigenous
methods.
One practice I rejected is, for instance,
separating cattle kraals into: weaners, the in-calf, the
heifers, etc. I can assure everybody that I am doing very
well without those European practices in relation to cattle.
Some of the dialects ingeniously invented additional
sounds
(letters)
to
enrich
the
language
differentiation of words is easier and clearer.
so
that
These
additional sounds (letters) are: ts, sh, ky, ch, ai, ei, etc.
These help us to distinguish between okusinda (to get
drank) vs okutsinda (to groan when you are sick); okutsiga
(to leave something behind) vs okusiga (to sow); ebisya (new
things) vs ebitsya (nape); okusaasa (to cause to hurt) vs
okushaasha (to hurt); ndire (I ate) vs ndaire (I spent a night);
ekyasha (a spot on the cow’s forehead), ekikyere (frog),
omukyeeka (mat), ekiconco (gift), ekicoori (maize), ekicuncu
(lion), okucooka (to select); abaitu (our people), arwaire
(she/he is sick), ahaiguru (above); omweija (the other
person), twongyeirwe (additional); etc.
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There are a few mistakes in the Thesaurus such as on page
317 where the printers or the final editors put the word:
omurimbi (sailor) next to oburimbi, a type of red soil with
19.35% of iron, 6.24% aluminum of 37.6% silicate and
others. These will be corrected in the next version.
There
are also many words we have not included. They will be
included next time. The different pronunciations evolving
around the use of the extra sounds (letters) mentioned
above, ts, sh, ky, etc, do not substantively alter the
meaning or the intelligibility. In the Thesaurus and in the
next dictionary we present the two pronunciations as much
as possible.
Where there has been omission, it will be
corrected in the next editions.
I still have some issue with my academic partners – Dr.
Muranga and others. I would like to use the double vowels
extensively and universally so that the future generations
who did not speak Runyankore from birth are not
confused.
One example is: Omukyeeno (curse) versus
24
Omukyeno (shortage of something especially labour). They
have their own academic mystifications which I decided to
ignore for now.
I may, however, have to review that
because I want a clear package for our children.
I am
continuing to discuss with my partners.
In the end, East Africa will have to use Swahili as the Black
man’s language because it is a neutral Bantu dialect which
is easy to accept in contrast to the tribal dialects like
Runyankore, Luganda, etc. The problem is that Swahili is
not as rich in vocabulary as the dialects of the interior of
the continent.
That is why they borrow so much from
Arabic which is not necessary.
Swahili has already
borrowed the Bantu word: Ikulu – meaning State House –
from, I think, the Wanyamwezi; they have borrowed
Kwangatu from, I think, the Wazanaki. Swahili can borrow
more words from the Bantu and Luo dialects of the interior
– for instance obufura to mean protocol instead of hitifaaki
if it is from Arabic or Lubaala – meaning National Anthem,
25
instead of continuing to use the descriptive word of Wimbo wa Taifa - the song of the Nation.
I think the sky is the limit in the development of the rich
culture of the African people.
I thank you so much
7th November, 2012
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Serena, UICC