62.

Zande Clan Names

Author(s): E. E. Evans-Pritchard
Source: Man, Vol. 56 (May, 1956), pp. 69-71
Published by: Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2794329
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MAY,

I956

Man

No.

62

ZANDE CLAN NAMES

by
PROFESSOR E. E. EVANS-PRITCHARD

Institute of Social Anthropology, Oxford

clan who are said to have got their name on account of

62 When Azande are asked why a certain clan has a

their lack of cooperation with others. They wanted to keep

all their affairs, especially in the matter of food, to themselves and to separate (kpara) themselves in their activities
from others. In the case of the Ambale clan the last syllable,
le, has caught the ear, and it is said that when members of

certain name they usually, in my experience, say

that they do not know. Older men will sometimes, however, offer some explanation of the name, though not
always with any certainty or even, I think, conviction;
adding, maybe, that they have heard it from someone or
that people say that it is so. It soon becomes evident that,
in most cases at least, the stories they tell of why these
names were given to the clans are examples of what Max
Muller called 'disease of language,' stories invented by
someone to explain the names, playing on the literal meaning of the words or of words to which their sounds bear a
resemblance. The names are usually presented, however,
as being nicknames, conventionally thought to have been
given to the clans by the wives of their sons, bestowed on
account of some characteristic or habit of their members.
I give some illustrations.
The Akalingo clan are so called, it is said, because they
used to behave badly to their fellows and kinsmen, not being
able to abide that another should eat their food, and saying
that when it was a matter of food or other goods, unless
they were very close relatives indeed, they had no kinsmen.
The last two syllables of their name, lingo, mean, when
combined with the verb de, to cut kinship; and we may
conclude that the story that this clan were mean with their
kin derives from this purely verbal association. In doing so,
we reverse the construction of the Zande etymologists,
that people of a certain clan behaved in a certain manner
and therefore got a certain name, by saying that a chance
identity or similarity of sounds has led to an explanation of
the clan name and consequently to the attribution of certain
characteristics to its members in the past. The Abakundo
clan, who in Zande tradition were their chiefs in ancient
days before the ruling Avongara clan of today became
dominant, are said, with little respect for the composition
of the word, to have got their name because when they
killed an animal they used to put it for two or three days
in a granary, since they liked to eat meat when it was high
(kundo). The Angumbe clan bear a name which is the same
word as that used to denote a species of oil-bearing gourd,
and therefore it is attributed to them that in the past they
were exceptionally industrious cultivators and that they
chiefly planted in their gardens this gourd, which they preferred to all other food. The Abalingi clan are said to be
so called because their ancestors displayed great meanness
(lingi) in the matter of food. The Angbadimo clan were
noted for their dislike of their sisters' sons and their sons'
wives entering their huts, for these relatives are in the habit
of appropriating anything which takes their fancy. When
a sister's son visited them they would sit in the doorway
(ngbadimo) of their huts till he departed, to deny him
entrance. Hence their name. The Abakpara were another

this clan used to kill an animal they could not bear that
anyone but themselves should take its intestines (le), of
which they were very fond.
Probably all these derivations are to be regarded as
fictions, fanciful attempts, not taken very seriously by
anyone, to account for the names of clans, which, assuming
that, as is possible, they originally meanlt something, meant
something quite different from the meaning given them
in these xetiological stories. That what we are considering

is merely popular etymology is evident, apart from the

violence done both to sound and grammar, from the mani-

fest absurdity of some of the explanatory myths, wild

guesses, as they would appear to be, at how names might
have arisen. There is a clan called Abagua whose name, we
are told, arose from their habit of killing in great numbers
red grass rats, known to Azande as agua. People deceived
them by telling them that these rats were not good to eat,
so they threw (ba) them away-hence Abagua, the throwers
away of red grass rats. Likewise the Abatiko clan were the
first to set traps for small birds, but when they found in
their traps a very tiny bird called tiko they did not take it
home with them but threw it away: hence their name

Abatiko (a, pl. prefix; ba, to throw; atiko, birds of this

name). The ba, which in these two last examples is identified
with the verb ba, to throw, and forms the second syllable in
the names of a fair number of Zande clans, is presumably
a plural prefix in the original languages of peoples who

today form part of the Zande ethnic and cultural complex, the usual Zande plural prefix a having been joined
to it.

The Akurungu clan were the first to beat wooden gongs

and to spread news by this means. Now a wooden gong
makes a sound which, it seems, resembles to the Zande ear
the cry of the kurungu or blue crested turaco, a bird found
in thick forest near streams. The old name of the Agiti
clan was Agbembara, 'pullers about of elephant,' because

when they killed an elephant they could not abide that

anyone but themselves should approach the carcase, which
they pulled and chopped about, struggling among themselves for the flesh. Some of these interpretations are very
far-fetched, one syllable being emphasized and the rest
ignored, sounds being forced into a resemblance they
scarcely bear, or some meaning the words can be supposed
to have being given a metaphorical value which makes
some, if little, sense when used in reference to people. The
Agbutu are so called from their habit of h-iding (gbu) their
69

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No.

62

Man

MAY,

I956

affairs from others; the Angali, because they played games

dangerously like the play of a dog (ango); the Avukida,
because they were always promising (kida) what they had
no intention of carrying out; the Abadala, because they
hoed their maize gardens where there grew a riverside
grass called dala; and the Akowe, whose original name was
Abananga, because of the unfaithfulness of their wives (ko
we, to make fire by friction-a euphemism for sexual
congress and hence for adultery). These explanatory stories
are manifestly absurd.
Even those Azande who seldom failed to give explanatory commentaries on clan names when these were
requested from them were sometimes beaten by names
which neither mean anything nor can easily be distorted
into meaningful sounds, for example, in the case of the
Agbambi and Aubali clans. They then generally said that
the names bore no meaning because they were originally
clans of foreign origin, belonging to such peoples as the
Amiangba and the Abarambo, and that the meanings of
their names are either unknown to Azande or have become
lost to everybody with the disappearance of the languages
to which they belonged. The Zande language has, they

is possible that the second syllable vu or vo was, as has been

suggested earlier for the ba in other names, a plural prefix.
This is a very involved linguistic question. What we have
to note here is only that, just as when what follows the ba
can by any stretch of the imagination be thrown it is taken
to be the verb 'to throw,' so when what follows the vu or

said, become all mixed up with (kpamiakpamia) foreign

Azande?' (Congo, Vol. I, I92I, p. 9) played the same

etymological game as the Zande etymologists, and, as he
heard the clan name as Avongara, he put forward the
suggestion that the name meant 'those who had "lie-laforce"' (vo, to bind; ngara, force).

vo can by any stretch of the imagination be bound it is

taken to be the verb 'to bind.' Two further examples must
suffice. The Avundukura clan are said to have originated
the custom of tying (vo) a little bottle-gourd (ndukura),
containing oil, to their waists for purposes of toilet when
going on long journeys. The second example is the ruling
clani of the Azande, which Europeans have variously spelt

Avongura, Avongara, Avongora, and in other ways, and

as to the meaning of which they have speculated, not very

convincingly. I was told by Azande a long and, to mne,

fanciful if not fantastic story about how a powerful bully

called Ngora (or Ngara) was overcome and bound (vo)

by a man who was consequently given the nickname of
Vongora, the binder of Ngora, and whose descendants

became known as the Avongora. The late Father V. H. van

den Plas in his paper 'Quel est le nom de famille des chefs

tongues. This is a true enough observation, but it ignores

the fact that a large number of clan names for which they
put forward an etymology are the names of foreign clans
and are unlikely therefore to have originated in the way
suggested, since although that is what the words might
mean in Zande the probability is that they are not Zande
words at all. This is the case with a number of the clans I
have already mentioned, and it is the case with others.
The Ameteli are, it is agreed by all, a foreign clan; yet we
are told that they got their name because they would say
to a man with whom they quarrelled 'mi a ta Ii ro na kina
gi mi ngbondo,' 'I will strike your head with my club.' So,
because the sounds in the word Ameteli bear some resemblance to the pronunciation of the Zande words mi, I;
ta, strike; ii, head, this clan is credited with having been
the first to shape clubs and use them in fighting. Another
clan of auro, as Azande call all foreigners, are the Angbaga,
and here, if we consider the phonetics of the word alone,

associations on which they are based may be sound. Thus

the word designating all the true or original Zande clans
and distinguishing them from assimilated foreign clans is
Ambomu, and the statement that they are referred to by
this word because their homeland, before they migrated
eastwards, was the valley of the Mbomu river has much to
commend it, for it is supported by a wealth of tradition
and other ethnographical evidence. The word which means
the opposite to Ambomu is Auro, strangers or foreigners.
That literally it means 'easterners' may readily be understood in terms of the eastwards movement of the Ambomu.

Zande word angbaga, meaning 'hoops.' Hoops are made

by t'wisting pliable withies into circles, and a game is then

The explanation of the name Adio, by which the most

easterly Azande are known among themselves, that this
people originated on the banks of a river (dio) may also

It does not follow that in all cases, and necessarily, these

explanatory myths, if they may be so called, are fictions,

merely imaginative play upon words. In some cases the

the etymology appears more reasonable, for there is a

played with them. The hoops are bowled at great speed,

appear adequate. But these three names are ethnic rather

than clan titles. A better example would therefore be the

and those along their course try to hurl spear-shafts through

Abandogo clan. They have as totems the red field rat

(ndogo) and the red pig (zukubele). They do not eat the

their centres. We are told that the Angbaga got their name
through addiction to this sport. Another foreign clan are

the Akpura. There happens to be a Zande verb kpura,

meaning to- cook together oil and vegetable (usually

flesh of either animal, and their body-souls are thought to

pass into one or other of them after death. It does not try
our reason too far to accept that, as Azande say is the case,
it is because this clan have andogo, red field rats, for totem

manioc) leaves. This clan is therefore credited with having

invented this cuisine. There happens also to be a Zande
noun maka which means a coil of metal wire such as in the
past Zande women used to twist.round their arms as an
ornament, and so the foreign clan of the Avumaka are said
to be so called because they invented this form of ornamentation-vu having to do service for vo or voda, to bind.
There are a number of other Zande clan names which
begin with the plural prefix a followed by vu or vo, and it

that they are called Abandogo (or Andogo); though in

view of what we have learnt of other clan names we might

wonder whether the process could not have been the

reverse-that they have acquired the rat as totem because

its name resembled, or was the same as, part of their clan
name, which may originally have meant something quite

different.
70

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MAY,

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Man

It may be surmised from wlhat has been said in this notc

Nos.

62,

63

case inl matters of detail in the stories related, but the type of

that thc etymology of clan names is a gamc anyone can

cxplanation is always the samc. That there are different

play who is skilfuil in the *lsC of words, and that thereforc

interprctationis is evident from the writings of others about

the Azande, for example Mgr. Lagac (Les Azande ou NiamNiatn, 1926, pp. 29-3I).

we might expect to find that different persons advance

different interpretations. This is certainly sometimes the

SHORTER NOTE
Ghost Marriages among the Singapore Chinese: A Further

groom's hat and bow tie are made of paper. A wad of 'hell bank
notes,' imitation money notes of large denominations, is stuffed
into the groom's top pocket. On each side of the pair are bamboo
and paper servants, the bride's bearing a cup and the groom's (out
of the picture) a real packet of cigarettes of a popular brand. In

Note. By Mrs. Marjorie Topley, Hong Kong. With a text

63 figure
Since writing on Chinese ghost marriages last year
(MAN, 1955, 35) I have had a furthcr opportunity to bc present
at such a marriage and this timc to obtain a photograph of
effigies of the bridal pair seated together at a table round which
the ceremonies on their behalf took place. I was unfortunately not
able to be present for the actual 'wedding' which was carried out
in the City God's temple, but witnessed the associated ceremonies
which took place in a Dying House I in which I happened to be at
the time. The circumstances were as follows.
A Cantonese boy aged about fourteen had been sent back to
China by his family to continue his studies and while there had
died under somewhat obscurc circumstances. About a month aftcr
receiving news of his death, his mother had a dream in which her
dead son appeared and told her that he wished to marry a Hakka
girl who had just died somewhere in Ipoh, Perak. Since, the
mother told me, he had given no precise details in her dreamn, the
next day she called in a Cantonese female spirit medium and
through her the boy gave the name of the girl together with her
placc of birth and age, and details of her horoscope which were
subsequently found to be compatible with his.2 The mother said
that since the boy was obviously anxious to marry and his
marriage would make things easier when her younger son came
to take a wife 3 she had taken the advice of the medium and
decided to arrange a ghost marriage. At no time was any attempt
made to check the information about the girl given through the
medium.
The total cost of the marriage was approximately $200 Straits
(about ?23) and a priest was engaged to see to the necessary
arrangemcnts. He was one of a small group of professionals
belonging to a Cantonese branch of the Cheng I school of Taoism
who earn their living in Singapore by performing at funeral
ceremonies and at Cantonese occasional rites.4 The priest arranged
for the 'wedding' ceremony to be held in the temple, hired a

front of the servants stand ling or lunig p'ai, temporary bamboo and

paper soul tablets which are burnt after the ceremonies. In front

FIG. I. GHOST MARRIAGE FEAST IN SINGAPORE

of the groom is a photograph of the boy taken just before his

rcturn to China. Rangcd round the room were various life-sized
objccts of bamboo and paper made for the use of the couple in
their new spirit-world home. Notable among them were a
dressing table complete with silver-paper mirror, a set of an
'aluminium' table and six stools, a large money safe, a refrigerator
and several trunks of paper clothes and rolls of cloth. Outside the
door in the street stood a large American-type bamboo-and-paper

room at the Dying Housc, bought or made all the necessarv

paraphcrnalia and together with his troupe of colleaguies and
disciples performed all the appropriate ceremnonics.

The ccremonies in the Dying House started at 8.30 a.m. and

throughout the day consisted in the chanting of Taoist sutras. At

car.
At dawn, after the cercmonies were over, all the paper articles,

I 1.30 a.m. the effigies of the bride and groom were put into a
trishaw and transported to the temple for the 'wedding' from

including the bridc and groom, were taken outside into the back
vard. The couple werc placed inside their car and everything was
then dispatched to the other world by flame.
According to the Taoist priest in charge of the day's activities
Cantonese ghost marriages are still by no means rare in Singapore
and he has bccn engaged to perform them by peoplc, mainly
women, of various occupations and income.

which they returned an hour later. In the evening post-mortuary

ceremonies of the usual Cantonesc kind were held for the pair. 5

All the ceremoniies were attcnded by the bov's parents and a

brother and two sisters who were attendinig English schools in
the Colony.
The photograph (fig. i) shows the effigies seated side by side
before a table on which a marriage feast has been laid. Both effigies

and food are similar to those used in ceremonies associated with

the dead. The heads of the figures are made of papier mSche' and
the bodies of paper stretched over bamboo frames. The couple
are dressed in real clothing, only the bridal headdress and the

Notes

I Dying Houses, or less harshly in Chinese, Ta nan kuian, Houses

of Big Difficultics, arc institutionis catering for the necds of the dead

7I

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