< Reconstruction:Proto-Bantu
Reconstruction:Proto-Bantu/ìbá
Proto-Bantu
Etymology
Apparently an innovation within Narrow Bantu; Bostoen rejects proposed cognates in wider Benue-Congo as being related to the easily confused root *ìbídà.
Noun
*ìbá class 5 (plural *màbá class 6)[1]
- (Common Bantu) oil palm, Elaeis guineensis
Usage notes
This term is shared between many Bantu languages, but a single form cannot be formally reconstructed to the level of Proto-Bantu because of historical or linguistic considerations. Despite some attestation in Guthrie zones H and R, Bostoen states that diffusion may account for this distribution rather than inheritance.
See also
- *ìbídà
- *mʊ̀téndé
- *ngàdí
Descendants
- Beembe: bá (“nut-bearing palm (generic)”)
- Bolia: ibá (“oil palm”)
- Ding: diba (“oil palm”)
- Mbala: ba (“oil palm; palm (generic)”)
- Mbere: oba (“black-fruited oil palm”)
- Ndumu: mbǎ (“palm nut”)
- Ntandu Kongo: bá (“palm (generic)”)
- Nzadi: ibá (“oil palm”), mbá (“palm nut”)
- Songe: èbwé (“palm”) (possible, but irregular)
- Umbundu: ɛva (“palm (generic)”)
- Yansi: mba (“palm nut”)
- Yombe: liba (“palm”)
References
- Entry 1 at Bantu Lexical Reconstructions 3
- Bostoen, Koen (2005), "A diachronic onomasiological approach to early Bantu oil palm vocabulary." Studies in African Linguistics 34 (2): 143–188.