Reconstruction:Proto-Bantu/ìbá

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

Etymology

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

Noun

*ìbá class 5 (plural *màbá class 6)

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

Usage notes

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

• *ìbídà
• *mʊ̀téndé
• *ngàdí

Descendants

• Beembe (H11): bá (“nut-bearing palm (generic)”)
• Bolia (C35b): ibá (“oil palm”)
• Ding (B86): diba (“oil palm”)
• Mbala (H41): ba (“oil palm; palm (generic)”)
• Mbere (B61): oba (“black-fruited oil palm”)
• Ndumu (B63): mbǎ (“palm nut”)
• Ntandu Kongo (H16): bá (“palm (generic)”)
• Nzadi (B865): ibá (“oil palm”), mbá (“palm nut”)
• Songe (L23): èbwé (“palm”) (possible, but irregular)
• Umbundu (R11): ɛva (“palm (generic)”)
• Yansi (B85): mba (“palm nut”)
• Yombe (H16c): liba (“palm”)

References

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