Kamuzu Academy Classics Department

[1] An internet copy of the dictionary can be found by entering ‘digitized Rebman Kiniassa’ (with that spelling) into Google.

[2] Paas, Steven (2011), Johannes Rebmann (Nürnberg / Bonn).

[3] The dictionary also appears to be not quite finished, since on every page there are four or five entries which have no definition, or only an equivalent in Kiswahili or an untranslated example in Chichewa. It appears that Salimini explained the words to Rebmann in Swahili, which he then translated into English.

[4] See the entries Bua, Chada, Charera, Demera, Denge, Dsekuere, Dsenga, Dsimbiri, Fuma, Iai, Iwo, Karumbe, Kidsa, Kirobue, Kisambo, Kisumpi, Koma, Lingadsi, M, Mabuyu, Mankamba, Masie, Mbodo, Mgama/ Mkama, Midawa, Mideme, Miriri, Misu, Mpande, Msauka, Msincha, Paso, Pogera, Tumbo.

[5] This is presumably the Chichewa word khungu ‘skin’.

[6] n.prop = nomen proprium, i.e. proper name.

[7] Ukamka Bua, kaoloke mwa nzeru, upandulire.

[8] Temperatures below zero are rare in the Lilongwe area today, but there were frosts in 1937 and 1955. In the latter a temperature of 240 F (–40 C) was recorded in Lilongwe. See R.G. Willan, ‘Some Notes on the Cold Spell in August 1955’, The Nyasaland Journal, Jan 1957.

[9] These three villages are on or near the route taken by a Portuguese expeditions led by Lacerda in 1798, Baptista and Jose in 1811, and Monteiro and Gamitto in 1831, travelling from Tete to the court of the ruler Kazembe in Zambia. No doubt Gamitto’s expedition was followed by other traders. See P.A. Cole-King, Lilongwe: A Historical Study (1971).

[10] The Lingadzi is therefore not a tributory of the Linthipe; but as Rebmann points out (in the entry Rironkue) the Lilongwe river is a tributary of the Linthipe. There is another Lingadzi north of Dowa, but it flows directly into the Lake. – Misu (Mizu) is not on Malawian maps; Rebmann says it is two days’ distance S.W. of Mpande, which might put it just over the border in Mozambique. – The Mankhamba mentioned is clearly not the famous rain-making shrine near Mtakataka at the south end of the Lake, but another place of the same name.

[11] If this was Salimini’s home village, when visiting the Lake he would presumably have reached the shore at Maganga, near the mouth of the Lilongwe/Linthipe rivers. The Lake is extremely wide here, but much narrower just a few miles further north at Senga.

[12] The present Kalonga Gawa Undi, who resides in Zambia, is regarded as the Paramount Chief of the Chewa. See further: Marwick: ‘History and tradition in East Central Africa through the eyes of the Northern Rhodesian Cheŵa’, Journal of African History, IV, 3, (1963), pp. 375-390. It seems that Kumpande was not subject to Undi. Salimini says that the hereditary chiefs of Kumpande were called Chalera (see entry Charera). S.J. Nthara (Mbiri ya Achewa, 27, 65) mentions a Chief Chalera who resided at Bunda.

[13] He also mentions a certain Ugonde river (with tributaries Kabeni, Kamansi), and in the introduction he refers to the Temba (Themba is apparently an old name for the Shire) ‘a large river to the south of his country’, which people used to visit to obtain iron tools.

[14] Probably a misprint for mbanda; the spelling mbanda is found in the entry Gua.

[15] s. = substantive, i.e. noun; coll. = collective; ana-di-chidira mbando = anatichitira mbanda.

[16] This would presumably refer to the track through the Thuma Forest Reserve leading from the Lilongwe-Salima road to Nkhoma.

[17] A website called ‘Cheeseburger’ conveniently lists the names and heights of 1053 Malawian mountains with maps.

[18] Mdede = Namitete; Kakuyu is a river which crosses the road between Namitete and Msitu.

[19] Cf. J.W.M van Breugel, Chewa Traditional Religion, 34: ‘On the top of the Dzalanyama mountains, the frontier between Mozambique and Malawi, there is a part covered with a sacred forest, in which stands the rock that bears a number of imprints, now believed to be the footprints of the first man and woman. The whole area is called Msinja and it became the site of the great rain shrine of the Chewa.’ (The word guwa means a mud platform or an altar.)

[20] W.H.J. Rangeley, ‘Two Nyasaland Rain Shrines’, The Nyasaland Journal 5:2 (1952), 32, places Msinja on the south bank of the Diamphwe River. S.J. Nthara, Mbiri ya Achewa, 10, likewise places it at the source of the Diamphwi, i.e. to the south of the Dzalanyama range. The shrine was destroyed by Angoni raiders in the 1870s.

[21] See the entry M’ombo, where Rebmann distinguishes the dialect ‘Kimaravi’ from ‘Kikd’, i.e. Kikamtunda.

[22] In the entry Mdunda, Rebmann says that the Wakamdunda are ‘one of the tribes generally comprised under the name Waniassa’.

[23] Ndife ŵacheŵa, si ife tinachita izo.

[24] Munthu uyu ndi mcheŵa, ndamuonera chifundo ‘This man is an Mcheŵa, I have seen his kindness’.

[25] See the map in Marwick (op.cit.). Apparently Gamitto was the first to record the name.

[26] A Popular Account of Dr. Livingstone’s expedition to the Zambesi and its Tributaries and the Discovery of Lakes Shirwa and Nyassa 1858-1864, chapter 14.

[27] For example, Dsuruguda (tsulukuta) ‘to rub (only said of the body in washing or oiling)’.

[28] One such error is Ino ‘that (at a distance)’; (the correct meaning ‘this’ is given in some other entries, such as Chaka). He also mistakes the names for some animals, such as Niumbu, which he thinks is a giraffe (in fact it is a gnu or wildebeest).

[29] We do not know how much of this confusion is due to Ludwig Krapf’s editing. Krapf put a note in the dictionary to say that in editing it he had altered the orthography from Lepsius’s system to that of Dr. Steere. Among other changes he made was to replace d with a dot under it by ch. The use of ‘s’ for both s and z is puzzling, however, since both Lepsius and Steere make a clear distinction.

[30] E.g. Dambe ‘[baobab fruit]’, Dambo, Demba, Dodoma, Dogo, Dogoda. Possibly it represents a sound between l and d.

[31] See for example entries Diso, Funda, Ndodani/Nlodani, Nkuiro, Psidirira. D is however much more common than dh.

[32] E.g. Laula/raura ‘to be obscene’, Lakua, Laga/raga, Lalada.

[33] See the entry kibára (chipala) ‘a smithery’, in which he claims that the accent changes to m’kíbăla when m’ is added; although chipala, being toneless, has no accent.

[34] Possibly this is merely an effect of the transcription and is not a phonetic reality; however, Rebmann’s remark in the entry Ki, which he says is ‘sometimes softened into “chi”’, suggests that he was aware of the difference. Compare also ‘Kigamu: see chigamu, of which it is only a different pronunciation.’

[35] Other examples: kidsuba (chinsupa) ‘a small gourd-bottle’, kigunda (chigunda) ‘small garden’, kigudhu (chigudu) ‘small piece of cloth’, kidambo (chitambo) ‘small cloud’, kibuma (chibuma) ‘small lump of earth or clay’, kibukudu (chipukutu) ‘small bundle of anything’. In modern Chichewa chigunda, chigudu, chibuma and chipukutu are diminutive, but not chitambo or chinsupa.

[36] See the entries Alimo, Dsiku, Mabasa, Mabira, Madhenda, Maere, Mamina, Mankaka, Mamba, Mano, Maro, Maronda, Marungo, Masano, Masiku, Nunka, Pada, Yawili. According to S.J. Nthara, Mbiri ya Achewa, 145, pronunciations such as madzi yanga are characteristic of the Dowa region.

[37] It seems that -ku- is sometimes added if the verb is monosyllabic: a-ta-ku-dza.

[38] For future -ta- (spelled -da-) see the entries Amba, Banga, Dandara, Dsa, Du, Eda, Kibuana, Kinchenche, Mbombo, Mpfumbi, Mpuno, Ni, Rera, Ta, Ulendo, Wamba. (The Perfect participle -ta- seems to have been -da-: madsi adhadaika si waora ‘spilt water can’t be picked up’, entry Iba.)

[39] Even today in schools Chichewa teachers teach that -na- should be used for recent events, -da- for remote ones. However, few people outside the Central Region observe this rule in practice. Note that Salimini’s Recent Past tense anápita ‘he has gone (and is no longer here)’ is to be distinguished from the modern Recent Past tense anapíta (with tone on the third syllable) ‘he has been (and is now back)’. The former is a true Perfect tense, implying that the effects of the action are still relevant; the latter implies that the action has been reversed.

[40] For -na- see the entries Amba, Bo gona, Burumuka, Dera III, Donora, Dsansa, Dsirisa, Duba, Dukana, Dumoa, Dura, Dsa, Dsansi, Gona, Kobue, Mansa mansa, Mbango, Pfumbidsa, Pfunda, Psa, Rume, Usa, etc.

[41] For -da- see the entries Amba, Du, Fungo, Kamodsi, Mlongo, M’mangidue, Mpuno, Muona, Nkuiro, Pfundo I, Ukuadi.

[42] ndimatenga nkhaŵa. See entries Denga, Kale, Pŏa.

[43] Entry Uina.

[44] See the entry Pfomera.

[45] See the entries Isano, Ni.

[46] p.c. from Cliff Kalonga, a Chichewa teacher. The sound ‘j’, unaccompanied by n, is rare even in modern Chichewa, except in the final syllable of words.

[47] One such adverb used today is dzolimba ‘hard’, using the Southern Region dzo- for bvo-.

[48] See entries M’ombo, Mdsisi, Msasa, etc.

[49] See entries Chea, Kabeifa, Mimbu, M’pada, Usiwa, Wanche etc.

[50] Rebmann suggests that (m)fudi (mfuti) ‘a firelock’ (i.e. gun) is also ‘probably a Portuguese word’ (entry Fudi). However, this is unlikely.

[51] Modern fodya, from the Portuguese folha ‘leaf’. ku góga = kukoka ‘to pull’; fodya wamwisi ‘green tobacco’; mphande za fodya ‘discs’ of tobacco.

[52] Modern Chichewa balasuku ‘fragment of broken glass’. Scott & Hetherwick record the word as palasuku, meaning ‘bottle’; the original Portuguese is frasco.

[53] Tsoyo is Vernonia amygdalina ‘tree vernonia’. In the entry (N’)dsinta n’dsinta, Rebmann explains tsinthatsintha as meaning ‘unequal (one stick longer than another)’. The Portuguese for ‘bed’ is cama.

[54] No doubt from the Portuguese capa ‘a cape’.

[55] Mwana wa mfulu ndi mbatata, ukaongola wathyola. The Portuguese for potato is batata.

[56] E.g. the dictionary Mtanthauziramawu wa Chinyanja s.v. doko.

[57] Kamuzu Banda, whose Kasungu speech was recorded by a Chicago professor in the 1930s, also used pamanga, but with the concord vya-. (Watkins, M. H. (1937). ‘A grammar of Chichewa: a Bantu language of British Central Africa’, Language, Vol. 13, No. 2; for pamanga see pages 74, 92, 134).

[58] By a misprint ‘changa’ is printed as ‘danga’ in this entry, but see the entries Kafumbu, (M-)pada, Ramba, where the phrase is repeated.

[59] = yasamitsa. Apparently a gap between the teeth was a sign of beauty.

[60] Chanzi is Lippia Javanica or Clematis uhehensis.

[61] Ndionjeza choomba m’manja ‘add something for clapping our hands’. Kuomba m’manja means to clap hands with another person. – malenze is ‘something added to a bargain for goodwill’ (Scott-Hetherwick).

[62] Kwathu munthu akayetsemula kuti atchule pfuko lake tikhoze kumdziŵa.

[63] Nkhadze (Euphorbia tirucalli). Livingstone explains: ‘the village of Chitimba ... like all other Manganja villages, is surrounded by an impenetrable hedge of poisonous euphorbia. This tree casts a deep shade, which would render it difficult for bowmen to take aim at the villagers inside. The grass does not grow beneath it, and this may be the reason why it is so universally used, for when dry the grass would readily convey fire to the huts inside; moreover, the hedge acts as a fender to all flying sparks (Expedition to the Zambesi, ch. 3). – The tree is unusual in having green twigs instead of leaves. It is not much found in Malawi these days, but is mentioned at least 12 times in the dictionary.

[64] Ŵachisambo ŵadziŵa kuponya mibvi yawo kuomba nthadza ‘the people of Chisambo know how to shoot their arrows so that they bounce’.

[65] Mbetete. The mbwabwa is the octopus cabbage tree, Cussonia arborea. Scott-Hetherwick on the other hand say of mbetete: ‘a trumpet made of horn of a small gwape [duiker], used in calling dogs in hunting’.

[66] Ukayenda ndi munthu wa mbina, nawe utathyola [= udzathyola] mbina ‘if you go with a person with a protruding bottom, you’ll waggle your bottom too’. Strangely, Scott-Hetherwick describe mbina as an incurved back, rather than a protruding bottom.

[67] Kuitana = to invite or call; madzi = water.

[68] Mphika, nkhali, nsima in modern Chichewa.

[69] Mbvula ya mpoto inabvundira.

[70] Usakunyenge mpoto kuliye (= kulibe) mvula ya mbvumbi.

[71] Mtsamiro ndi mtengo ŵausema, wa kusamirira.

[72] Kuna mikanda yochuluka ku msasa, ‘there are numerous beads in the msasa’. – Dr Livingstone met them at various points in his travels: ‘We meet with these keen traders everywhere. They are easily known by a line of horizontal cicatrices, each half an inch long, down the middle of the forehead and chin. They often wear the hair collected in a mass on the upper and back part of the head, while it is all shaven off the forehead and temples. The Babisa and Waiau or Ajawa heads have more of the round bullet-shape than those of the Manganja, indicating a marked difference in character; the former people being great traders and travellers, the latter being attached to home and agriculture. The Manganja usually intrust their ivory to the Babisa to be sold at the Coast, and complain that the returns made never come up to the high prices which they hear so much about before it is sent. In fact, by the time the Babisa return, the expenses of the journey, in which they often spend a month or two at a place where food abounds, usually eat up all the profits.’ (A Popular Account of Dr. Expedition to the Zambesi and its Tributaries and the Discovery of Lakes Shirwa and Nyassa 1858-1864, chapter 14.)

[73] Pamanga cha m’nyata; apa ndi panyata, tichite nthunthu, tikokere chamba. Ŵabusa ŵakoka chamba ku nyata: ‘maize of (in) clammy soil; here is a damp place, let’s make a ?pipe, and smoke chamba. The herdsmen smoke chamba in a damp place.’

[74] kachisi. See the entry kakisi.

[75] The dambwe is the place (usually a graveyard) where the initiates met.

[76] Kuvina maliro = to dance at a funeral; kumvinira namwali = to dance for an initiate.