List of Jamaican Patois words of African origin
The List of African words in Jamaican Patois notes down as many loan words in Jamaican Patois that can be traced back to specific African languages. Most of these African words have arrived in Jamaica through the enslaved Africans that were transported there in the era of the Atlantic slave trade. The majority of Africans that survived slavery were in Jamaica were of Akan descent, thus most the loan words were from Akan words[1]
| Patwa | Language | Original word | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Accompong | Akan | Acheampong (or Akropong) | Ashanti surname, which means destined for greatness. "Akropong" comes from the conjugation of the Akan words "kro" and "pɔn" meaning "Great City." |
| Ackee, akee | Akan | Ánkyẽ | "a type of food/fruit", "cashew fruits"[2] |
| Adopi | Akan | Adópé | Ghost, often written in Jamaican English as "duppy"[3] |
| Adrue | Akan, Ewe | Adúru, adrú | "powder, medicine, drug"[3] |
| Afasia, afasayah | Akan, Ewe | Afaséw, afaséɛ | "inferior wild yam"[3] |
| Afu | Akan | Afúw | "yam" or "plantation"[4] |
| Ahpetti | Akan | O-peyi | A certain amulet[5] |
| Akam | Akan | A wild and inferior yam | |
| Anansi | Akan, Ewe | Anansi | "Spider"[6] also name Akan folktale character. |
| Adru | Akan | a medica herb | |
| Bafan | Akan | Bɔfran | a baby or toddler. A child that did not learn to walk between ages two and seven.[7] |
| Broni | Akan | Oburoni | a white person[7] |
| Casha | Akan, English | Kasɛ́, acacia | "thorn"[8] |
| Dookunu | Akan (Asante Twi) | Dɔkono | (also known as blue draws or tire leaf in Jamaica) food, a dessert item similar to bread pudding.[9] |
| Dopi, dupi | Akan | Dupon (odom tree root) | "ghost" |
| Doti | Akan | "ground"[10] | |
| Cocobay | Akan | Kokobé | "leprosy"[6][11] |
| Foo-fool | Akan (Ashanti Twi) | Ɛfooh | Foolish or inferior |
| Gyinal | Akan (Ashanti Twi) | Gyinaa | Someone that is not taken seriously, a stupid person. A con-man (in Jamaica only) |
| Kaba-kaba | Akan, Yoruba, Ewe | "unreliable, inferior, worthless"[12] | |
| Kongkos | Akan | "gossip"[6] | |
| Mumu | Akan, Ewe, Mende, Yoruba | "dumb", "stupid"[6][13] | |
| Nana | Akan | "grandparent"[14] | |
| Odum | Akan | a type of tree[15] | |
| Obeah | Akan (Ashanti Twi) | Ɔbayi | "witchcraft"[16] |
| Igbo | ọbiạ | "doctoring", "mysticism"[17] | |
| Opete | Akan | "vulture"[7] | |
| Paki | Akan | apakyi | calabash[18] |
| Patu | Akan | "owl"[7] | |
| Poto-poto | Akan, Igbo, Kongo and Yorubo | "mud", "muddy"[6] | |
| Red-eye | Akan | ani bere | envy |
| Se | Akan, Igbo, English | Se, si, say | that[19] |
| Backra | Efik | Mbakára | "white man"[6][20] |
| Juk | Fula | Jukka | "poke", "spur"[21][22] |
| Akara | Igbo, Akan, Yoruba | àkàrà | Type of food[23] |
| Attoo | Igbo | átú | "chewing stick"[24] |
| Big-eye | Igbo via Gullah | anya ukwu | "greedy"[25][26][27] |
| Breechee | Igbo | Mbùríchì | Nri-Igbo nobleman[28] |
| Door-mouth | Igbo | ọ́nụ́ ụ́zọ̀ (mouth + door) | "doorway"[29] |
| Chink, chinch | Igbo | chị́nchị̀ | 'bedbug'[30] |
| Country ibo | Igbo | Ị̀gbò | Pluchea odorata or Ptisana purpurascens[31] |
| De, deh | Igbo | Dị | [with adverbial] "is" (to be)[32][33] |
| Hard-head | Igbo | ísí íké (head + hard, strength) | 'obstinate[34] |
| Himba | Igbo | Mba | "yam root", a type of yam, Rajania cordata[35][36] |
| Okra | Igbo | ọkwurụ | a type of vegetable[6][37] |
| Red Ibo, Eboe | Igbo | Ị̀gbò | a person with a light skin colour or a mulatto of mixed parentage[38] |
| Soso | Igbo | Sọsọ | "only"[6][39] |
| Unu | Igbo | únù | "you (plural)"[40] |
| Dingki | Kongo | funeral ceremony[35] | |
| Dundus | Kongo | ndundu | "albino", "white person", "European"[41] |
| Djumbi | Kongo | "ghost"[6] | |
| Pinda | Kongo | "peanut"[6] | |
| Yam | Wolof | Njam, nyam | "eat"[6][42] |
References
- ^ Cassidy FG: Multiple etymologies in Jamaican Creole. Am Speech 1966, 41:211-215
- ^ Cassidy & Page (2002:3)
- ^ a b c Cassidy & Page (2002:4)
- ^ Cassidy & Page (2002:5)
- ^ Cassidy & Page (2002:6)
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k McWhorter (2000:77)
- ^ a b c d Cassidy & Page (2002:20)
- ^ Cassidy & Page (2002:93)
- ^ Cassidy & Page (2002:155)
- ^ Institute of Jamaica (2000:42)
- ^ Cassidy & Page (2002:112)
- ^ Allsopp & Allsopp (2003:323)
- ^ Mittelsdorf (1978:34)
- ^ Cassidy & Page (2002:315)
- ^ Cassidy & Page (2002:328)
- ^ Williams, Joseph John. Voodoos and Obeahs: Phases of West India Witchcraft. Library of Alexandria. p. 90. ISBN 9781465516954.
- ^ Eltis & Richardson (1997:88)
- ^ Cassidy & Page (2002:335)
- ^ Menz (2008:12)
- ^ Cassidy & Page (2002:18)
- ^ Cassidy & Page (2002:153)
- ^ Watson (1991:10)
- ^ Cassidy & Page (2002:4)
- ^ Cassidy & Page (2002:14)
- ^ Cassidy & Page (2002:41)
- ^ Holloway (2005:94)
- ^ Bartens (2003:150)
- ^ Cassidy & Page (2002:68)
- ^ Allsopp & Allsopp (2003:200)
- ^ Allsopp & Allsopp (2003:152)
- ^ Cassidy & Page (2002:124)
- ^ McWhorter (2000:128)
- ^ Rickford, Romaine & Sato (1999:137)
- ^ Allsopp & Allsopp (2003:284)
- ^ a b Graddol, Leith & Swann (1996:210)
- ^ Lewis (1996:24)
- ^ Eltis & Richardson (1997:88)
- ^ Cassidy & Page (2002:378)
- ^ Huber & Parkvall (1999:47)
- ^ Cassidy & Page (2002:457)
- ^ Cassidy & Page (2002:112)
- ^ Sheller (2003:219)
Bibliography
- McWhorter, John H. (2000). The Missing Spanish Creoles: Recovering the Birth of Plantation Contact Languages. University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-21999-6.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Graddol, David; Leith, Dick; Swann, Joan (1996). English: history, diversity, and change. Routledge. ISBN 0-415-13117-0.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Bartens, Ángela (2003). A contrastive grammar: Islander - Caribbean Standard English - Spanish. Finnish Academy of Science and Letters. ISBN 951-41-0940-6.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Allsopp, Richard; Allsopp, Jeannette (2003). Dictionary of Caribbean English Usage. University of the West Indies Press. ISBN 9766401454.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Institute of Jamaica (2000). "Jamaica journal". 27–28. Institute of Jamaica.
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help); Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Cassidy, Frederic Gomes; Page, Robert Brock Le (2002). A Dictionary of Jamaican English (2nd ed.). University of the West Indies Press. ISBN 976-640-127-6.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Mittelsdorf, Sibylle (1978). African retentions in Jamaican Creole: a reassessment. Northwestern University.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Menz, Jessica (2008). London Jamaican-Jamaican Creole in London. GRIN Verlag. ISBN 3-638-94849-8.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Watson, G. Llewellyn (1991). Jamaican sayings: with notes on folklore, aesthetics, and social control. University Press of Florida. ISBN 0-8130-1053-5.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Holloway, Joseph E. (2005). Africanisms in American culture. Indiana University Press. ISBN 0-253-21749-0.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Rickford, John R.; Romaine, Suzanne; Sato, Charlene J. (1999). Creole genesis, attitudes and discourse: studies celebrating Charlene J. Sato. John Benjamins Publishing Company. ISBN 90-272-5242-4.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Lewis, Maureen Warner (1996). African continuities in the linguistic heritage of Jamaica. African Caribbean Institute of Jamaica.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Eltis, David; Richardson, David (1997). Routes to slavery: direction, ethnicity, and mortality in the transatlantic slave trade. Routledge. ISBN 0-7146-4820-5.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Huber, Magnus; Parkvall, Mikael (1999). Spreading the word: the issue of diffusion among the Atlantic Creoles. University of Westminster Press. ISBN 1-85919-093-6.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Sheller, Mimi (2003). Consuming the Caribbean: from Arawaks to zombies. Routledge. ISBN 0-415-25760-3.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help)