Chapter in:
Grammatical and Sociolinguistic Aspects of Ethiopian LanguagesEdited by Derib Ado, Almaz Wasse Gelagay and Janne Bondi Johannessen †
[IMPACT: Studies in Language, Culture and Society 48] 2021
The ensete in Gurage
Nomenclature, use and meaning extension
Fekede Menuta | Hawassa University
The aim of this article is to investigate the way Gurage people
name the diverse ensete (Ensete ventricosum) varieties and how that
naming categorises varieties of the plant. It also attempts to describe lexical
entities associated with ensete and its products, meaning extensions of ensete names
and the associated vocabularies in everyday language use, such as in proverbs and
insults. The study follows cross-sectional research design and qualitative
methodology. Key consultant interviews and interview guides were used as a method
and tool, respectively. Eight key consultants from Gumer, Chaha, Inor, Ezha, and
Gyeta participated in the study. The findings show that there are about 71 ensete
varieties in Gurage. The people classify ensete varieties according to color, size,
value, propensity, source of the plant, height, and other variables. The lexical
nets related to the plant, its products and byproducts are significantly large and
qualify documenting them as part of lexicography. Some ensete variety names are
metaphorically used to insult someone, as in
g
j
ɨnb
w
ə ‘obese’ and in proverbs, as in
g
j
ɨnb
w
ə ɨhata birəzɨn t’onata
jɨm
w
əsɨn [Gynbuwe its.water heavy.on.it its.power it. seems.to
it] ‘When the ensete variety Gynbuwe carries much water in its stem, it considers
itself as an entity that has much power’. The study can help linguists,
anthropologists, and ethno-botanists in studying the interaction between man,
language and nature, in this case the ensete plant.
Keywords: culture, ensete, Gurage, nomenclature, semantics
References
References
Alemayehu, Neri
Blench, Roger
Fekede, Menuta
Gurage Culture Tourism and Communication [GCTC]
Haile, Seifu Weldeyohannes
Hudson, Grover
Leslau, Wolf