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In contemporary society, many of the words inherited from the Mdu Ntr have been used both innocuously and also negatively:
Chemistry, Alchemy... These words are derivatives of Khem - Black It is a respectful derivative which credits much scientific knowledge to Kemet.
Gas (to poot) The Mdu Ntr word for flatulence has passed down to us with its same meaning. This is a rather innocuous inheritance...
Nubian This is a word, derived from the Mdu Ntr word "Noub" which means "gold" that has been totally misused and abused.
Today, "Nubian" is a euphemism for "Negro" or "Black" - how many Black films have we all seen that contains the dialog "My Nubian brother/sister?" "Noubi" or "gold" has been re-invented politically to mean "Black!" This is insidious in cultural terms.
In the Mdu Ntr, the following words are synonyms; Kush, Ekush, Thaosh, Ethaosh. These words simply mean "frontier." In its original Mdu Ntr meaning, it also implied "barbarian", a social pejorative which later the Greeks would adopt - ie, if you weren't Greek you were a barbarian... Even the modern people known as "Nubians" have suffered the same historical fate that the "Indians" have suffered in America...
Hamite This word is derived, like "Chemistry", from "Khem." This derived term, up until the emergence of the ridiculous fairy tale of "Black-skinned whites who civilized Africa", was basically just another innocuous term which simply meant "Negro", "Black", or "African." And much like the current efforts in South Africa to eliminate the term "Bantu" because of its misuse by white South Africans, you have a similar reaction to the use of the term "Hamite" because of its use in the "Hamite fairy tale"...
Posts: 3344 | From: Berkeley | Registered: Oct 2003
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