Reconstruction:Proto-Bantu/ìbá

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This Proto-Bantu entry contains reconstructed terms and roots. As such, the term(s) in this entry are not directly attested, but are hypothesized to have existed based on comparative evidence.

Proto-Bantu

[edit]

Etymology

[edit]

Apparently an innovation within Narrow Bantu; Bostoen rejects proposed cognates in wider Benue-Congo as being related to the easily confused root *ìbídà.

Noun

[edit]

*ìbá class 5 (plural *màbá class 6)[1]

  1. (Common Bantu) oil palm (Elaeis guineensis)

Usage notes

[edit]

This term is shared between many Bantu languages, but a single form cannot be formally reconstructed to the level of Proto-Bantu because of historical or linguistic considerations. Despite some attestation in Guthrie zones H and R, Bostoen states that diffusion may account for this distribution rather than inheritance.

See also

[edit]

Descendants

[edit]

References

[edit]
  • Bostoen, Koen (2005), "A diachronic onomasiological approach to early Bantu oil palm vocabulary." Studies in African Linguistics 34 (2): 143–188.