the Eastern Side of the Basin of the Nile. 253 
tale,”’* likewise makes use of the “‘ theoretical root,” when he 
says that ‘“‘ Mounyamouezy, or by contraction M’nyamouezy, 
signifies a man of the country of Nyamouezy.’ ft 
The determination of this theoretical root “ Nyamwezi” 
throws much light on the various forms which the name of 
the country and that of its inhabitants have assumed in 
works on African history and geography.{ It is evidently the 
**Nimeamaye’’ of Dapper, further corrupted to ‘‘ Nimeaye” 
‘in our atlases; whilst the addition of the singular prefix m 
makes M’nyamwezi, which is evidently the original of ‘‘ Mo- 
nomoezi,” respecting the orthography and the derivation of 
which word so much has been written. What this theo- 
retical root may mean in the Nyamwezi language—or, as 
Captain Burton would say, in Ki-Nyamwezi—has yet to be 
ascertained. Meanwhile the proposed translations of ‘‘U-Ny- 
amwezi’’ into “ Possession of the Moon” and ‘“ Land of the 
Moon” may well be questioned. 
Should it eventually be proved that the name of this country 
of Nyamwezi—U-Nyamwezi—has really no connection with 
the separate Kafir or Zingiar word mwezi in its literal signi- 
fication of “the moon,” the designation of ‘‘ Mountains of 
the Moon,” as applied to the great mountain range of Eastern 
Africa in which are the sources of the Nile, will have originated 
in amistranslation. Still this well-known name has been in use 
during so many ages, that it would hardly be practicable, and 
certainly would not be judicious, to supersede it now. The 
Mountains of the Moon, then, with their snowy summits and 
their sources of the Nile, will assuredly retain the designation 
which Claudius Ptolemy, rightly or wrongly, gave to them 
seventeen centuries ago. 
Now that Eastern Africa is in so many respects becoming the 
object of public attention, it is probable that the Mountains of 
* P. 390, note. 
f This is asserted by Captain Burton (Journ. Roy. Geogr. Soc., vol. xxix. p. 
167), to “show little knowledge of the Zangian dialects.” But the truth 
is, that Captain Guillain, like Mr Norris and myself, adopts the ‘ theoretical 
root’’ as best suited to the genius of European languages, without at all in- 
tending to dispute the fact asserted by Captain Burton, that this root is never 
employed by the natives themselves without some prefix. 
t See examples cited by Captain Burton in the “ Journ. uo Geogr. Soc.,’ 
vol. xxix. p. 166, 
NEW SERIES.—VOL, XIV. NO. 11.—ocT. 1861. 2k 
