Reconstruction:Proto-Bantu/ìbá

This Proto-Bantu entry contains reconstructed words and roots. As such, the term(s) in this entry are not directly attested, but are hypothesized to have existed based on comparative evidence.

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.

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.

[1] Entry 1 at Bantu Lexical Reconstructions 3