Words for people

Class 1 holds people

Chatelain puts the names of people in the first class. In the singular, these nouns begin with mu-. To make the plural, change mu- to a-. The plural belongs to class 2.

Singular and plural

The stem stays the same. Only the prefix changes. Open a word to see every meaning it has.

In Chatelain's 1889 grammar, mubhika (mubika in his spelling) means a slave, and his examples refer to slavery, which existed in Angola at the time. The dictionary gives both slave and servant.

When the vowels run together

Two words look like exceptions. Chatelain explains that they are not. Underneath, the form of mona is muana, and its plural is aana. When two vowels meet, they contract, so mu + a becomes mo and a + a becomes a. In the same way, mwii has the plural ei, from a-ii. The prefix still changes from mu- to a-. The contraction hides it.

One word for either sex

Most words for people do not show whether the person is male or female. Chatelain calls them epicene: one word covers both. For example, mubhika means a slave of either sex. Only a few words mark sex, such as the one below. Chatelain gives this word for “woman”.

Muhatu

mu- alone does not mean a person

Class 3 also begins with mu- in the singular, but its plural begins with mi-. Compare the word below with the pairs above. The plural tells you the class: a- means people, and mi- means class 3.