African Words in Bajan
According to the Ethnologue, Bajan has "fewer than 20 lexical items that are traceable to an African origin".
- wunna
- You all from the Igbo word unu, which means You (Plural)
- bim
- Nickname for Barbados, derived from Igbo 'Ndi Ibem' or 'Ibem' meaning 'My people'
- obeah
- From Igbo Obia, 'doctoring, mysticism, or oracle'
- doppy
- From Twi Adope
- Cou-Cou
- Part of the local national dish, but comes from "Fou Fou" in Africa.
- nyam
- (Pronounced "ng-yam") or "Yamm--") which means to eat ravenously or greedily, as in, "Don't yamm- the food like that boy!" – In Manjaku (language spoken in Guinea-Bissau)and in Pulaarit means to chew,(pronounced "nyam") it means chew in Luo (language spoken in East Africa)
Read more about this topic: Bajan Creole
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“The African race evidently are made to excel in that department which lies between the sensuousness and the intellectual—what we call the elegant arts. These require rich and abundant animal nature, such as they possess; and if ever they become highly civilised, they will excel in music, dancing and elocution.”
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