992 VOCABULARIES 



Notes on Luganda. 



Luganda possesses fifteen out of the sixteen original Bantu prefixes, although the 

 twelfth prefix (Tu-) is now but little used. The tenth prefix (Iti- or Izi-) is absent— perhaps 

 only recently so. 



In addition, however, to the normal prefixes, Luganda — perhaps also Runyoro — offers 

 two others not easily classed. These are Ogu- (sing.), Aga- (pi.), both used as augmenta- 

 tives (slightly in a contemptuous sense). Thus : Embuzi is a goat ; Ogu-buzi, a huge 

 clumsy goat ; Aga-buzi = huge goats. Muntu is a man; Guntu (pi. Gantu) is a giant. 

 Egamya enene = a large crocodile ; Oguga>?iya ogunene = a monstrously large crocodile 

 (pi. Agagamya). It might at one time have seemed as though Ogu- and Aga- were only 

 more primitive forms of the third and sixth prefixes— Omu- is sometimes followed in the 

 plural by Ama-. But my researches into the Masaba and Kavirondo languages (dealing 

 with the original forms of the first and third, Gumu-, and the sixth, Gama-, prefixes) 

 do not lend much support to this idea. It is not uncommon among Bantu languages for 

 special and local prefixes (often honorific) to arise from the prefacing of word-roots by 

 adjectives and consonants in abbreviated form. Ogu- and Aga- may thus have originated 

 locally in Luganda and Runyoro without belonging to the original set of Bantu prefixes. 



There is also a little understood prefix Se- in Luganda, usually masculine in sense 

 and vaguely honorific, sometimes answering to the term "Mr." Sedume is a bull; 

 Segwauga, a cock. Senzige, in folk-lore, stands for " Messrs. Locust," or " Mr." Locust. 

 Sebo is father or chief — nowadays "Sir." Se-kibobo, Se-bagwao, Seruti, are titles of 

 officials in the Uganda hierarchy. This honorific masculine prefix seems to crop out 

 occasionally in other Bantu tongues, as Se- or Si- : witness Si-fiauga, i.e. " Mr. Doctor," 

 in Ci-nyanja and Citonga on Lake Nyasa. 



A similar feminine prefix, Nya-, Na-, Nyi-, corresponds to Se-, and is by no means 

 confined to Luganda. Nya-bo (mother), "Madam," corresponds to Se-bo, "Sir." Nya' 

 zala = mother-in-law, Naiaasole = Queen-mother, Nalinya = the " Queen-sister," Nalongo 

 = a mother of twins ; and so forth. 



But these male and female prefixes have no corresponding particles — no concord — as is 

 the case with the real sixteen or eighteen prefixes of the Bantu languages. They use as 

 corresponding particles the concord of the first and second {Omu- and Aba-) prefixes. 



Luswga is very like Luganda. In some cases it remains the more primitive form of 

 words. A curious point should be noted in regard to its version of the sixteenth (Pa-) 

 prefix. This becomes Ta-, ya-. 



