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"A Vocabulary of the African Captives," The New England Review, Sept. 21, 1839.
CING GWA, THE AFRICAN CHIEF.
The brave Congolese Chief, who prefers death to slavery, and who now lies in jail
in this city, awaiting his trial for daring to strike for FREEDOM.
For the New England Review
A Vocabulary of the African Captives.
Mr. Green, --Since the African captives were brought into Hartford to await their doom, I have spent much time with them; and now, after some perplexity in ingratiating myself with them (their condition makes them jealous of every one,) and the trouble of joining words of their language to express a few ideas, I find myself pleasantly advancing in the knowledge of the Mendingo dialect or language. For the amusement of your readers I send you a little now, and should you desire it, I will furnish you quite a vocabulary for your next number. All their words I perceive, end with a vowel aspirated Their numerals extend only to ten: so that when they count farther, they tell how many tens are to be taken. Example: Pooh, being ten; when they would represent twenty, they show that they mean ten twice taken.
MENDINGO DIALECT.
The numerals from one to ten, inclusive, are
E-tah
Feeh-leh
Sou-ah
Nah-e-neh
Dlou-loh
Wa-tah
Wooh-fe-lah
Wi-ah-pah
Tah-ooh
Pooh.
Of these, E-Tah and Wi-ah-pah are accented on the second syllable. The others are
accented on the first.
Sun, Fooh-leeh
Sunrise, Win-deeh
Noon, [Sun at meridian,] Fooh-looh
Sunset, Booh-vah
Night, Geeh-heeh Sleep, Geeh-dah
Moon, Eng-ge-reeh
Head, [of a person,] Booh-heeh
From this is derived the name of every thing, external, pertaining to the head. Thus:
Forehead, Beeh-lah-wah-i [pronounced by some Booh-lah-wah-i]
Eye, Beeh-ah-mah [pronounced by some of them, Booh-ah-mah
From this and Beeh-kah to cut or mark, they have for the
Eyebrow, Beeh-ah-ma be-kah
Cheek, Booh-goh-mah
Nose, Booh-hooh-mah
Ear, Booh-ah-lah
Tooth, [of the internal part of the head,] Gwun-joh
Neck, Booh-booh-lah
Booh-heeh, and all derived from it, are accented on the second syllable. Beeh-ah-mah-bekah, being a compound word, follows the samples in accentuation; the accent being on ah, and kah.
Breast, Nah-leeh-meh
Abdomen, Nah-gooh-eeh
Whole front of the body, He-peeh
Back, Nooh-hooh-oh-mah
Rib, Gah-yah-kah
Shoulder, Nyah-bah-keeh
Arm, above the elbow, Nyah-loh-grooh
The first of these has the accent on the first syllable; the third has it on the second; and all the others on the third.
Arm, below the elbow, Yah-rooh-kooh-eh
From this word, as the root, they derive the name of everything pertaining to the arm, even to the fingernail. Thus:
Wrist, Yah-rooh-kooh-lah-ih
Hand, Yah-rooh-kooh-oh-meh
Finger, Yah-rooh-kooh-gooh-eh
Thumb, Yah-rooh-kooh-heeh-neh
Finger nail, Yah-gauh-gooh-eh
Of these the first has the accent on the first syllable; the last has it on the second;
and the others on the fourth.
Allow me to add, in conclusion, that the more intelligent and communicative of these Africans, have great pleasure in drilling me to the right pronunciation of the words of their language. They speak separately and distinctly the syllables of their long words. Some words I have found very difficult to pronounce; and the Africans, after having repeated for me a single word ten or more times, before I could speak it like them would exclaim, Ugh! talk and laugh among themselves doubtless at my stupidity, or inability to speak as well as they; and changing their look of contempt for one of pleasure, would resume the business of instructing me; manifesting equal satisfaction in learning our language, and teaching theirs. Their chief pronounces his name Zin-gueh; the accent on the first syllable.
Yours, O .B. PIERCE
Also see Exploring Amistad's Teaching Section, and accompanying curriculum material pertaining to this article.
