A linguistic assessment of Ma’at and its usage in modern African communities of memory by Asar Imhotep
The purpose of this study is to more accurately trace the etymology of the ancient ciKam (Kemetic) word Ma’at , transliterated as mAa.t in Egyptology. At this stage of the research, the term mAa.t will be generally defined as “virtue, truth, order, reciprocity, balance, and harmony.” Here we utilize the analytic tool of historical comparative linguistics to explicate a more accurate and richer understanding of mAa.t by examining its lexical cognates among modern African languages. Ma’at, as a term and principle, survives among many African populations whose languages belong to the Cyena-Ntu (C-N) language family. We discover that not only does the lexeme survive in modern African languages, but it exists as an operative social system by which many indigenous African societies are organized around and live by. This allows the researcher to gain insight into how Ma’at was probably understood as, and operationalized within ancient ciKam. Moreover, this study provides a framework by which the African Diaspora can organize its communities in alignment with the themes as constructed by C-N speakers throughout the millennia in its ongoing ReAfricanization project. Therefore, to get a better understanding of this ancient code of ethics we explore the living principle of Ma’at [mAa.t] among three modern African societies: i.e., Ki.Nenga among the BaKongo (Democratic Republic of Congo), mBog among the Basaa (Cameroon), and Maat among the Kalenjiin (Kenya). Finally, we argue that Ma’at survives as a living principle in the Diaspora among African-Americans, for which the author has given it a name—from a living African language—that is cognate with Ma’at in ancient ciKam: i.e., ḅling̣ “love” among the Sango of the Central African Republic.
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