NAMING PROCEDURES AND MEANING OF PERSONAL NAMES

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Personal names derived from a relative concord plus verb stem plus an adjective suffix -ho

(a) Apfeswaho: (The one who is listened to most). In this case, the presupposed referent of the noun phrase is God. The relative concord a refers to God, -pfesw- has its variant, -pfesiw- is an extended verb root with a passive extension -iw-, meaning one who is listened to, derived from the verbal suffix -a plus the adjective suffix or formative -ho. The extended root -pfesiw-/-pfesw- is derived from the root -pf- (listen). The namegiver is communicating with the people around him about his understanding of God. He regards God as the only being that should be listened to. The suffix – ho differentiates this God from others.

PERSONAL NAMES DERIVED FROM FIRST PERSON PRONOUN

(SINGULAR) + VERB STEM Most Tshivenḓa personal names are derived from a combination of the first person pronoun and a verb stem that the emphasis placed by these types of names is on the name-giver and not on the wishes of the person on whom the name is bestowed. In traditional Vhavenḓa society, the grandparents were the principal name-givers, but if they were absent, this role was usually performed by an elder in the family structure or the parents of the newborn or the traditional doctor, maine. It has been indicated in previous chapters that African personal names reflect the wishes, religion, economic and political status of the family. Therefore, most of the personal names that fall into this category reflect the feelings of the name-giver, and how he/she has been treated by his/her relatives.

PERSONAL NAMES DERIVED FROM THE POSSESSIVE PRONOUN

Personal names in this category resemble personal names that are formed by a compound construction. However, they also reflect possession. Doke and Mofokeng (1957:135) define a possessive as a word which qualifies a substantive, and is brought into concordial agreement therewith by the possessive concord. There are three types of personal names derived from this category, namely: noun plus possessive phrase, names derived from an adverb plus a possessive phrase and names derived from a qualificative plus a possessive phrase.

PERSONAL NAMES DERIVED FROM COMPOUNDS

Compounds are words that are formed from two or more independent word categories, such as a noun and a verb, a noun and a qualificative or a verb and a noun. Matthews (1991:15) defines a compound as a word whose parts may themselves be words in other contexts. Matthews (1991) further notes that compounding is a process by which a compound lexeme is derived from two or more simpler lexemes. Crystal (1991:70) regards a compound as: 172 A term used widely in descriptive linguistic studies to refer to a linguistic unit which is composed of elements that function independently in other circumstances.

Personal names that are formed from a deverbative and a noun

(a) Mulindathavha (One who looks after the mountain): mu- prefix class 1, -linda a verb stem, plus a noun thavha (mountain). Mulinda is a deverbative formed from the prefix mu- (class1) and verb stem -linda (meaning to look after something). A personal name like this refers to a situation in which a child born is regarded as the successor of the traditional leader of the village. The child is regarded as the protector of the village. In this situation the child given the name is the target.

TABLE OF CONTENTS :

• Declaration
• Acknowledgements
• Summary
• CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION
  • 1.1 Statement of the problem
  • 1.2 Aim of the research
  • 1.3 Literature review
  • 1.4 Research Methods
  • 1.5 Background of the Vhavenḓa
  • 1.6 The Arrival of Europeans in Venḓa
  • 1.7 Organization of the study
• CHAPTER TWO THEORETICAL BACKGROUND TO PERSONAL NAMING
  • 2.1 Introduction
  • 2.2 Personal Naming Patterns
    • 2.2.1 Traditional belief.
    • 2.2.2 Meaning
    • 2.2.3 Cultural variety
    • 2.2.4 Ancestral names, reincarnation and commemoration
    • 2.2.5 Derogatory names
    • 2.2.6 Changing / replacing names
  • 2.3 Name-givers
  • 2.4 The purpose of marriage
  • 2.5 Time of name-giving
  • 2.6 Name-giving ceremonies
  • 2.7 Teknonymy
  • 2.8 Conclusion
• CHAPTER THREE NAMING PROCEDURES AND MEANING OF PERSONAL NAMES
  • 3.1 Introduction
  • 3.2 Name Categories
    • 3.2.1 Birth names
    • 3.2.2 School/Christian names
    • 3.2.3 Initiation school names
    • 3.2.4 Marriage names
    • 3.2.5 Traditional leaders’ names
    • 3.2.6 Teknonymy
  • 3.3 Naming Procedures
    • 3.3.1 Naming Ceremony
    • 3.3.2 Name-givers
  • 3.4 Meaning of Personal Names
    • 3.4.1 Emotion-related names
    • 3.4.2 Ancestors’ names
    • 3.4.3 Political names
    • 3.4.4 Historical names
    • 3.4.5 Christian names
• CHAPTER FOUR THE INFLUENCE OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION ON TSHIVENḒA PERSONAL NAMING
  • 4.1 Introduction
  • 4.2 Western Civilization and African Culture
  • 4.3 Factors Influencing the TshivenḒa Naming Process
    • 4.3.1 Religious Factors
      • 4.3.1.1 Europeans’ Aims and Attitudes
      • 4.3.1.2 Name-giving at baptism
    • 4.3.2 Social Factors
      • 4.3.2.1 Naming and Western Schools
      • 4.3.2.2 Naming and Traditional Schools
      • 4.3.2.3 Naming and Social Pressure
      • 4.3.2.4 Naming and Cultural Knowledge
      • 4.3.2.5 Significance of European Names
    • 4.3.3 Economic Factors
    • 4.3.4 Political factors
  • 4.4 The Reaction against the Influence of Western Civilization on Personal Naming after
  • 4.5 Conclusion
• CHAPTER FIVE THE MORPHOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF TSHIVENḒA PERSONAL NAMES
• CHAPTER SIX GENERAL CONCLUSION

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A STUDY OF TSHIVENḒA PERSONAL NAMES