Nama

Nama (Namagowab)

Nama or Hottentot is the largest of the Khoisan languages and is spoken
in parts of South Africa, Botswana and Namibia by approximately 233,701 people.
The Hottentot people usually refer to themselves and their language as Nama,
the name of the largest of the Hottentot-speaking tribes. The word ‘Khoisan’
comes from ‘khoi’, the Nama word for themselves, and ‘san’, which is the Nama
word for Bushman, another, smaller, Khoisan-speaking tribe. The term ‘Hottentot’,
however, comes from early Dutch settlers, who, upon hearing the language spoken,
thought that all the natives were saying was ‘hot’ and ‘tot’.

Nama alphabet and pronunciation

Nama alphabet and pronunication

Letters in parenthesis are used only in foreign loanwords, usually from Afrikaans,
English and German.

Diacritics

  • á rising tone
  • a level tone
  • à falling tone
  • ā lengthens vowel
  • ã nasal
  • ä separates a vowel from a diphthong

Sample text in Nama

ǂKam ǃũi-aob gye ǁẽib di gūna ǃhomi
ǃna gye ǃũi hã i. ǀGui tsēb gye ǃgare-ǀuiï
di ǃkhareï ei heiï di somi ǃna gye ǂnõa i,
tsĩb gye ǁom tsĩ sĩgurase gye ǃgan-tana, tanaba ra
ǃhororose. Ob gye ǁẽib ǁgūse gyere ǃũ
beiraba ǃũi-aob ta ǃkamsa ǁgoa bi, ti gye ǂẽi.
ǁNatib gye ǂnirase gye ǂhomisen, tsĩb gye ǁhei-ǂnu
ei bi nĩse ǃgũṅ tsĩ ǀnĩ dā-ǃharoroti
gose gye ǂgai-ǃoa-ǃoasen, tsĩb gye ǃũi-aob ei
ǁhei-ǂnũ tsĩ ǁkhōse gye ǃkhā bi.

Ob gye ǃũi-aoba ǁkhōse ǂkon ǂoms ãba xu
ǂkei-ǂkeihe, tsĩ gye ǁgao tsĩb gye ǁeixa
hãse uri-khài tsĩ beiraba gye ǃkhō, tsĩ
ǁnāba gye ǀgūse mã i tsouï ǃna gye
ǀnami-ǁna bi. Xawe ǁnāsan nĩ nou gūna mũ,
timis ǀkan gye beiraba sau tsĩ tsoub ǃna gye uri-ǁgõa tsĩ
ǀkhom-ǀkhomsase ǃgaregu ei gye ǂku. ǁNatib gye
ǃũi-aoba ǃgawua-ǃna hãse ǀũn ãba
ra tsuru-!ã gye ǂgei. "ǂKawa ǁeiba xu ǂgosen tama
īs gye ǂkhõas tsĩ ǀam-ǂgōsens tsĩna
ra ū-hā."

Translation

One day a young shepherd was watching his sheep on a mountainside. While he was
sitting on a rock in the shade of a tree, his head nodded forward and fell asleep.
A ram grazing nearby, seeing the shepherd lower his head, thought he was threatening
to fight. So he got ready, and drawing himself back a few paces he launched himself
at the shepherd and butted him severely.

The shepherd, thus rudely awakened from his sleep, arose angrily, caught the ram,
and threw him into a well standing nearby. But the moment the other sheep saw their
leader fall into the well, they followed him in and were dashed to pieces on the rocks.
So the shepherd, tearing his hair, cried out: “What sorrow and trouble are brought
about by useless anger!”

Other languages written with the Latin alphabet

Links

Information about the Nama language
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nama_language

Information about the Nama People
http://www.namibian.org/travel/namibia/population/nama.htm
http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/cultural/oldworld/africa/namaculture.html

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