401 



A SELECTION OF SIRONGA PROVERBS 



FiY 



Rev, H. L Bishop. 



Head J id if 11. U)>i2. 



iN'inODUClOHY. 



The SiPonfT,'! language, like otlitT J^antu languages, is very 

 rich in proverbs ant] j)roverbial expre.ssions. Hitherto, these have 

 been little studied. Mi". Junod, in his " Les Raronga," and in 

 his ■■ Life of a South African Tribe," has given a few examples. 

 In tlie latter book he says, " Hundreds of such sayings might 

 be collected." This is literiilly true; and although Mr. Junod 

 appears to attach more importance to the Ronga riddles than 

 to the proverbs, I venture to think that the latter are well 

 worth studj'ing, and collecting, tor their own sake — and this for 

 two reasons. They certainly throw light upon the working of the 

 Native mind, and they present us with valuable material for the 

 study of the language. 



The proverbs which follow are a selection only from those 

 which I have collecte<l. Some I have heard in native conversa- 

 tion and noted down. Others have been collected for me by 

 natives. Others have been lound in native correspondence. 

 Whatever their source, I have sub?nitted them all to several 

 eompet^^nt natives, and have hud their help in elucidating them. 

 I am glad to acknowledge here my indebtedness to my native 

 helpers, especially Messrs. J..T. Chembeni and T. D. Mabika. 



If it is dithcult, at the best of times, to define a proverb, 

 it is perhaps still more difficult to decide just which SiRonga 

 sayings should be grouped under that name. It is often difficult 

 to. decide between the riddle and the proverb, and between the 

 proverb and what is merely a proverbial saying. Those which I 

 propose to study now aie all, I think, fairly to be classed as 

 proverbs 



The SiRonga 'Word for proverb is .S^/a (<^-P- Zulu is-Aga, 

 defined by liryant as a. ' current saying or proverb, which 

 suggests a second meaiiing not literally that of the words "). 

 This definition fits our SiRonga proverbs excellently. 



One might have thouglit that, the great facts of life being- 

 the same^ everywhere, there would be' frequent close parallels 

 between SiRonga proverbs and those of European peoples. I 

 have, however, found it very difficult to find such equivalents, 

 at any rate in English, for moi-e than a very few of the SiRonga 

 proverbs. The same subjects crop up constantly, but the angle 

 of vision is so different .that often one can only link our proverbs 

 to theirs by a loose paraiihrase. 



