I have a (quick) question. Is there a breakdown to the word /mansa/ "king" in Mandika? Is it analysable in Mandika? Are there any related cognate terms for it? Is it ma-nsa or man-sa? Is mara "to rule" a variant of this term or something totally different? (mara > mada > mata > masa > mansa?)
Mansabaa "The Creator, the Almighty" Mansbaayaa "Greatness (God), mightiness (god)" mansabengo "chief's conference" mansakee "king, male ruler" Mansamusoo "queen, female ruler" mansanaafoo "crown" mansaringo "noble, member of a ruling clan" mansayaa "being a ruler, become ruler, rulership" mansoo "ruler" mara "to control, rule, in caharge" maralaa "ruler, one in authority, guardian, administrator" (also mararilaa) mararoo "leading, ruling, governing"
Posts: 853 | From: Houston | Registered: Nov 2007
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posted
The term mansa is made up of ma=”great, chief, landlord, ancient inhabitants of the land, the pygmies, ancestor, invisible spirit of the inhabitants of the land”; and
nsa, or sa ‘lord, sky, god of the sky’.
Ma-nsa or ma-sa= reign, King (Supreme Chief), Emperor, absolute lord and Sovereignty
posted
Yes it does, and I appreciate it greatly. This same /nsa/ I equate with Egyptian /nsw/ "king" which is cognate with Fon /Etsu/ "king." Ultimately it should refer back to a word meaning "head" and thus the derived form for "king, ruler, sky, etc." The Up-Down schema in Semantics is at play here.
Posts: 853 | From: Houston | Registered: Nov 2007
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posted
I know that in Mandinka, and possibly some other Mande languages, the term Mansa equates to "king". Clyde, your post seems to suggest that this is a bi-literal term. Your post on "ma" then refers to Mande languages?
This is tentative (on my part) at this point:
The Egyptian "nsw" is suggestive of an implicitly plural term [you know--like how people say "Gods" to a single supreme supernatural being, not to imply multiple personalities but as a show of respect], whose radical may have had connections to the term "ns-t" (or else the source of that term)--whereby the "t" may be a feminine rendering, which is reportedly the equivalent of "throne"/"seat".
However, another explanation given--perhaps more plausible than the one offered above--to the evolution of "nsw" goes like this:
The word nsw is derived from nj-sw.t, "the one who belongs to the sedge plant", with the sedge plant as the heraldic symbol for Upper Egypt. This word is therefore normally translated as "King of Upper Egypt", although its context often favours the shorter translation "King". - Courtesy of egyptvoyager.com
What's key here, is that "nsw"'s literal reference is actually that to ruler of Upper Egypt.
-------------------- The Complete Picture of the Past tells Us what Not to Repeat Posts: 7516 | From: Somewhere on Earth | Registered: Jan 2008
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posted
This thing is not letting post my response for some reason. What characters are not allowed in the textbox?
Posts: 853 | From: Houston | Registered: Nov 2007
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Peace. It is my contention that the word /nsw/ is a variant of the word /rsw/ ‘south.’ The word for ‘south’ in reality is a word for ‘head.’ The Egyptians had a 'body' frame of reference when dealing with cardinal directions. Therefore, the ‘left hand’ designates the ‘west’ and the ‘right hand’ designates the 'east.' This is only possible if the orientation is towards the Great Lakes region (the source of the Nile). Therefore, this direction is considered the ‘head’ and the common Afro-Asiatic (and Kongo-Saharan) word for head is *rs. A later Semitic loan came into Egyptian as /rS/ ‘head.’
The same r-s root is used for ‘king, ruler, head, top, up.’ The sedge-plant is used in Egyptian only for its phonetic values. This is based on the remus principle. ‘upper Egypt’ is the ‘head’ and it is where all of the legitimate ruling families came from. Before Egypt was called /km.t/ or /tA mrj/ it was called /Xnw/ ‘the interior.’ Again, from the ‘body-centric’ nature of Egyptian cardinal directions, with the ‘head’ facing ‘south’, the ‘interior’ would simply be the ‘body.’
Antonio Loprieno, in his book Ancient Egyptian: A Linguistic Introduction (1995: 246, n26), informs us of a possible sound feature in the ancient Egyptian language that is meaningful for those of us who practice Ifa. I am going to recite the whole note and then provide my own commentary.
quote: W. Schenkel, ‘Das Wort fur Konig (von Oberagypten)’,’ GM 94 (1986), 57-73 suggests the interpretation of /z/ as affricative {ts}, among other reasons because it stands for /t/ + /s/ in the word /nzw/ ‘king,’ whose more traditional writing is /ntsw/. Whether an affricate (as suggested by Schenkel and by the equation with Afroas. -s-) or an ejective (as suggested here on the basis of the historical evolution to a voiceless counterpart which it shares with voiced plosives), it is not surprising that this phoneme should be used to indicate a sibilant immediately following a nasal, a phonetic surrounding which often tends to generate affrication: /ns/ or = {vnts} (Schenkel) or else = {vns’} = /ns/ {vnts}) see Hock, Principles of Historical Linguistics, 117 ff.
In short, it is believed that the /z/ old kingdom sound was really a /ts/ sound. This is a simultaneous articulation of the /t/ + /s/ sound, like in the word Bo-/Ts/wana (The Tswana people of South Africa). He also mentions the ancient Egyptian word /nsw/ (nzw) ‘king.’ I have noted in my article ‘Understanding Àṣẹ and its Relation to Èṣú among the Yorùbá and Aset in Ancient Egypt’ (2012: 15) that /nsw/ ‘king’ {with n- prefix denoting ‘one who is’ or ‘possessor of’} is a dialectical variation of the Yoruba word àṣẹ. So a /nsw/ ‘king’ is a ‘possessor of power’... àṣẹ.
As we know, àṣẹ means ‘power, law, command’ and the ‘ability to bring things into being’ (by word or deed). It is a reflex of the ancient Egyptian word /Sw/ ‘to win power, to gain power.’ The /x/ sound in Egyptian is allophonic with /S/ and thus the word /Axw/ ‘power (of God), mastery (over work)’ is a variation of this root (which is rendered as Òrìṣà ‘head, authority, power’ in Yoruba). There is an Òrìṣà by the name of Èṣú and his name is built off of this same root which is a by-form of the word àṣẹ. Èṣú is the one who carries the àṣẹ scepter (staff) of Orunmila. In other epithets he is known as a ‘King’ of Ketu. This means he is also Royalty. The word àṣẹ is also associated with ‘kingship’ (see Sandra Barnes _Africa’s Ogun: Old World and New_ 1997: 123).
So we have here /Sw/ ‘to win power, to gain power’... /Axw/ ‘power (of God), mastery (over work)’ -- /nsw/ ‘king’ from /àṣẹ/ ‘power, law, authority’ and the ‘ability to bring things into being’ to Èṣú ‘the personification of àṣẹ, King of Ketu.’ The Egyptian word /nsw/ should be /ntsw/ ‘king’ and is closer to the rendering in the Nupe language (Niger-Congo) of Nigeria and their word Etsu ‘king.’ The Yoruba and Nupe languages do not have the noun-class prefixes, so it doesn’t have n- attached to the root. However, the prefix of ownership is present in a famous West African name known to us as Mansa Musa in the Mandika language. Mansa means ‘king of kings’ or ‘emperor (ma-nsa).
With this said, when we see the name /nsw bjty/ ‘King of Upper and Lower Egypt,’ it should properly be defined as ‘Emperor’ to ‘Absolute holder of Àṣẹ!’ I mentioned earlier that the /x/ sound shifts with /S/ in Egyptian. We see our root reflected in the following Egyptian terms: /mnx/ ‘potent’ (of king)... ‘to be excellent, efficient, potent, well established, beneficent, efficacious’... /mnxw/ ‘excellence, virtues (of someone), benefactions, acts of grace.’ Again, semantically Àṣẹ deals with ‘power’ and ‘potency’ (the ability to make things happen/flourish) and this is the job of the king. I will be completing a full article soon.
Posts: 853 | From: Houston | Registered: Nov 2007
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I take it rsy (c. of Loy) is simply another variant of rsw?
By the same token, nj-sw.t and ntsw?
If so, it is any wonder how researchers come up with variants of the very same term.
-------------------- The Complete Picture of the Past tells Us what Not to Repeat Posts: 7516 | From: Somewhere on Earth | Registered: Jan 2008
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Yes /rsy/ and /rsw/ are variants. It's one of those terms that was older than the historical consciousness of the people. During the dynastic period, the word /tp/ and /hr/ were used for the physical "head," and thus this term was fossilized in the words for "leader" and "south" (the head, beginning).
The variants, I would argue, is a direct result of that which is found in the writings. Dialect was definitely a factor in the transcription of many words in Egyptian.
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