“Peter eats termite dust” and Other Things I Never Knew I Might Need To Say

Language is far more than a collection of words to memorize and grammar to unravel. It represents culture and structures the way we think. To demonstrate this concept, people often talk about the many words for snow that the Inuit (Eskimos) have. Appealing though the Inuit story may be, it appears to be an “urban legend;” the Inuit don’t have any more words for snow than the English. (For more information about this scandal, and a funny list of made-up Inuit words for snow, see http://www.mendosa.com/snow.html.) Don’t despair, the Mandinka can more than fill the void left by the Inuit.

When preparing for our trip to Gambia, I found a Mandinka dictionary and grammar booklet on the web to help me brush up on my Mandinka. (These resources were written by Gambians for the U.S. Peace Corps.) The connection between culture and language is very apparent when paging through the dictionary, as there are many Mandinka words that represent concepts that I never thought I would ever need to express. Likewise, the sample sentences provided in the dictionary, and their English translations repeated here, are perhaps not things we would typically think of saying. I picked some of my favorites for you:

alalangansingo (n) – natural circumcisee – it’s a belief that some people are born already circumcised (Sample sentence: Natural circumcisees are not many among people.)

alamanii (v) – to offer, to permit one’s daughter to marry a man without charging anything

baabaabankoo (n) – termite dust (Sample sentence: Peter eats termite dust.)

baadinjawoo (n) – bad relative (Sample sentence: A bad relative is not good.)

baasiinaa (n) – co-wife of mother

dundinkano (n) – taking virgin (Sample sentence: Taking virgins to their husbands is not common now.)

haafijoo (n) – one who memorized the Quran

keejawauyaa (n) – ugliness (Sample sentence: Ugliness is not good for a woman.)

koritee (v) – to cast an evil charm on someone (Sample sentence: She cast an evil charm on her co-wife.)

kundaani (v) – to have charms that protect (Sample sentence: A man should guard himself with charms.)

kunkungo (n) – left over (when toilet is pounded and sieved) (Sample sentence: Give me the left over particles.)

kutudaa (n) – anus (Sample sentence: I’ll cut your anus.)

laañooyaa (n) – being bed mates (Sample sentence: Being bed mates during the dry season is not easy.)

manajawuyaa (adj) – ugly, oddity (Sample sentence: A hippo’s ugliness is extreme.)

musukuula baa (n) - man who likes sex so much (Sample sentence: You are a man who has sex a lot.)

numbuwo (n) - solidified snot (inside the nose) (Sample sentence: Remove solidified snot from your nose.)

ñaki (v) – to transfer a characteristic to a baby (Sample sentence: Your child resembles a snake.)

ñeetoo (n) – little excrement on one’s trousers (Sample sentence: A little excrement is on your trousers.)

pakitipaa (n) – food offered by a girlfriend (Sample sentence: I don’t eat food offered by a girlfriend.)

seedefuree (n) – righteous person’s dead body (Sample sentence: This is a righteous person’s dead body.)

taamilisoo (n) – animal slaughtered on a naming ceremony (Sample sentence: Horses are not sacrificed at naming ceremonies.)

tabuloo (n) – big drum placed at the mosques (Sample sentence: When there is death the talking drum is bitten.)

tapuroo (v, n) – spanking on the head. (Sample sentence: Spanking causes immense pain to the head.)

Now you know why I often miss Gambia.