Beschreibung
The book is based on material collected by missionaries at
Kasenga Mission in Zambia. Edwin Smith began in 1901 to note
each new Ila word, together with illustrative sentences
dictated by his Ila informants. Later missionaries continued
this practice, so that in 1959 the author found a mass of
over 12,000 items already collected.
As the largest body of
Ila ever assembled, the dictionary offers much of interest
in several fields. The language has a consistent
agglutinative structure of great sophistication, logical as
Latin, flexible as Greek. The speakers reveal not merely the
preoccupations of daily existence in Ila villages a century
ago, but an outlook both sensitive and wryly humourous.
Feared in battle, fearful of spirits, revering God; hunters
of lion and buffalo, polygamous, romantic, ribald in men’s
company, but highly proper in women’s, tender towards
children, with a high regard for the arts of hospitality,
conversation, and love, the Baila spring with verve from
these pages.
Appendices list nearly 2,000 synonyms, 276 proverbs, l64
metaphors, 216 customs, 400 trees with their medicinal uses,
290 plants, 150 birds, and grammatical tables.
“Without the dedication of Mr Fowler, none of the
precious early notes on which this work is based would have
seen the light of day. This work is outstanding in the way
it brings together and adds value to the work of many
contributors – and always identifies its sources. The work
of Kayobe Syamatanga and his colleague at the beginning of
this century would have had little value without the later
annotations, and Mr Fowler has clearly harnessed the
enthusiasm of his collaborator Pearson Likukela to great
effect. In between, he has captured and preserved the
contributions of a series of observers with diverse interest
and a close sympathy for the culture.”
Michael Mann, formerly School of Oriental and African
Studies, London
After reading Modern History at Oxford and
Theology and Ecclesiastical History at London, D. G. Fowler
was ordained a Methodist minister. He worked as a missionary
for eight years in Zambia, mainly among the Ila people in
the Kafue Flats.