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Lomagundi Road is one of Harare’s major trunk Roads that splits surbubs like Avondale, Avonlea, Bluffhill, Marlborough, Westgate and Bluffhill

Ignatius Mabasa Correspondent
Most Zimbabweans fondly talk of Lomagundi Road, but do not know that the word Lomagundi is a mispronunciation and misspelling of the word Nemakonde by the white colonialists.
Nemakonde is the name of the chief who rules over the Makonde area. In this context, the prefix Ne- is an ownership prefix, meaning that Makonde is the owner and chief guardian or custodian of the lands. We have lost that history and as a result, we have accepted a meaningless, mispronounced and misspelt word to become part of us.

The name Lomagundi may have come about as a result of the colonial settlers turning everything into Nguni (either Xhosa, Zulu or Ndebele) as they mostly came from the Cape Colony. Other examples of such corruption are Gwelo for Gweru, Belingwe for Mberengwa, Umtassa, instead of Mutasa. They thought all lands were under Lobengula. It could also have been a case of arrogance on the part of the colonisers. There are other foreign words that out of necessity got adopted and incorporated into the Shona language, but accepting a bastardised Shona word which misrepresents a traditional institution and distorts history is very wrong.

There are other words that were influenced by colonialism, such as mainini and babamunini, which were never part of our language, but out of necessity were accepted and are now even marked as correct in schools.

The acceptance of these two words — babamunini and amainini should not be equated to accepting the word Lomagundi as a substitute for Nemakonde. Lomagundi is a distortion and obliteration of history, and by accepting to live with such a wrong word, we are missing an opportunity to celebrate our own and educate our children.

In Shona, a father (baba) is any man who is mature. Even bachelors (tsvimborume) were referred to as baba. Even those who did not have children of their own, they were still called baba. Traditionally, when it became absolutely necessary to distinguish between fathers — one would talk of babamukuru (senior father) who is a brother to your father. The English would call him uncle. Then there was babamudiki (junior father) who is also uncle in English. The term was not babamunini as we have come to believe these days. Babamunini, like mainini is a creation influenced by colonialism. Babamunini Francis chikomba, havasi baba.

In Shona, again anybody who is your mother’s sister is either maiguru (senior mother) or maivadiki (junior mother). But what is important to know is that distinguishing between one’s mother and her sisters was not usually done or considered necessary. One’s mother’s sisters were all just called amai. You will find that sometimes, in order to make a distinction, the Shona would then say, “Amai vekuChivhu…or amai vekwaChanakira.” Using where the mother stayed or her husband’s family name to specify her.

The term Maiguru, was often used to boost a person’s self-importance or self-esteem (ego) in a polygamous marriage. On the other hand, the term mainini had derogatory connotations in a polygamous marriage. It is like, she is not the real deal, she is a sidekick.

The word mainini also used to refer to one’s wife’s young sister or the daughter of a wife’s brother. Because of the practice where in the past one could marry his wife’s young sister(s) or daughter of her brother, such wives who would come to join the senior wife had to be “cut to size” by being reminded that they are not in charge. It is more like the use of the word — amwene for mother in law.

For cultured Shona people, amwene is a term used only by daughters-in-law to make a political statement, but these days it is used casually.
The term mainini, started off as an equivalent of the English word, mistress. While the English word mistress has several other meanings, one of its old meanings which is no longer used that much is, “a woman having an extramarital sexual relationship, especially with a married man.” What is important to pay attention to this Shona word is the extension that comes after the noun mai, which is /-nini/. One can only find this extension in two Shona words, babamunini and mainini. If /-nini/ was a widely used Shona term to describe small things, we would find it being added to a lot of other nouns.

So, where does the word /-nini/ come from? It comes from Pickaninny (also picaninny or piccaninny) which according to Wikipedia is a term in English which refers to children of black descent or a racial caricature thereof. It is a pidgin word form, which may be derived from the Portuguese pequenino (an affectionate term derived from pequeno, “little”). The term pickaninny has also been used in the past to describe aboriginal Australians. According to Robin Bernstein who describes the meaning in the context of the United States, the pickaninny is characterised by three qualities: “the figure is always juvenile, always of colour, and always resistant if not immune to pain.” At one time the word may have been used as a term of affection, but it is now considered derogatory.

According to Wikipedia, although the Oxford English Dictionary quotes an example from 1653 of the word “pickaninny” used for a child, it may also have been used in early black vernacular to indicate anything small, not necessarily a child. In Chilapalapa or Fanakalo, a pidgin language used in Southern Africa, the term used was pikanin and it referred to children as well as to small or little. The old song Ndiani anoenda Buhera kunotora mainini, that was redone by Tanga wekwaSando was a celebration of small houses, collapse and modernity and may have popularised the term mainini in the colonial era.

The same can be said of the “Babamunini” in the play Babamunini Francis by T.K. Tsodzo. Babamunini is a rogue boyfriend to a married woman. In the Tanga wekwa Sando song, the mainini is a mistress who is sophisticated more than maiguru, the traditional wife who stays kumusha. This is why, the song talks about this mainini being reachable via telephone (a status and sophistication symbol back then). It is equally important to point out that the small house phenomenon is a product of people wanting polygamous unions but failing to get the proper social and legal support.

Ignatius T. Mabasa is a Language Consultant, Translator, Novelist and Storyteller.