aban |
Akan: palace |
abosom |
Akan: minor deities (singular: obosom) |
ackie |
|
adae |
Akan: festival day; see akwasidae |
adowa |
Asante dance |
adwúma óo! |
Akan: greeting to a person at work |
adwúma yé |
|
aggrey beads |
|
agôgô |
Brazil: percussion instrument, consisting of two hollow iron cones, beaten with an iron rod |
àgòo |
|
Akan |
|
akoa |
Akan: subject; used here as pawn; see donko |
akpeteshie |
|
akrafó |
Akan: male slaves (singular: okra) favoured by their master and destined to accompany and serve him in the next world |
akwasidae |
Asante festival celebrated every sixth Sunday in which the Asantehene offers food and drink to the ancestral stools. |
Alafin |
ruler of Oyo |
Ali Makeri |
Hausa blacksmith who settled at Yendi around 1730 |
aluá | |
àmêê |
Akan: reply to àgòo; (“come in!”) |
ampá |
Akan: precisely; indeed |
ampá? |
Akan: is that so? really? |
Ananse |
Spider-man; trickster hero of Asante folklore |
anansesem |
Akan: folklore; stories concerning Ananse |
Angola Janga |
see Palmares |
Asante |
West African kingdom and empire with its capital at Kumase; its people; its language. The founding states of the Asante confederation were: Kumase, Asumegya, Kumawu, Mampon, Offinso, Nsuta, Kokofu and Bekwae |
Asante Kotoko, kum apem, apem beba |
|
Asantehemaa |
Akan: queen-mother of Asante; leading female royal (but note: not necessarily the mother of the Asantehene) |
Asantehene |
Akan: king of Asante |
Akan: assembly of the Asante nation |
|
Asase Yaa |
Akan: female spirit of the earth (Thursday born) |
ase ase ayo |
Akan: Horn call of Koranten Péte. Literally “it has been said, it has been said, it has been done” |
Asen, Akyem and Akuapem |
|
Asen-Praso |
|
Askia the Great |
|
atumpan |
Akan: royal talking drum of Asante |
awuraá |
Akan: lady |
Yoruba: traditional priest |
|
baeta |
Port.: baize |
bali |
facial incision |
baobab |
tree of the African savanna (Adansonia digitata) |
batakari |
|
batá |
drum |
Bedagbam |
Bekpokpam name for Dagomba |
Bekpokpam |
|
Benekpib |
Bekpokpam spirits of the bush |
bloody flux |
diarrhoea |
boçal |
|
deity of the people of Edina |
|
bra |
Akan: come |
Bremanhene |
Akan: king of Breman |
Bron |
a people living to the north-west of the Asante heartland |
Cabindas |
slaves from Cabinda in West Africa |
caboceer |
Port.: West African chief or elder |
cabra |
Brazil: half African, half Tupi |
cachaça |
Brazil: cheap rum distilled from sugar waste or molasses |
cadeira |
Brazil: curtained sedan chair |
casa grande |
Brazil: mansion, home of the senhor de engenho |
cassia |
tropical tree |
chocalho |
Brazil: musical instrument; similar to xaque-xaque but with a swelling at one end only |
civet |
|
civet perfume |
|
Classis |
|
conta de terra |
type of bead |
cowrie |
|
Crioulo |
Brazil: creole; African slave born in Brazil |
Dagbon |
country of the Dagomba |
Dagomba |
a people of northern Ghana (and their language) |
dawa-dawa |
tree of the African savanna |
Denkyira |
Akan state conquered by Asante |
doek |
head cloth |
|
|
|
|
Edina |
West African coastal town; site of Elmina Castle |
Elmina Castle |
slave-trading castle built by the Portuguese at Edina in 1482-86 |
engenho |
Brazil: sugar mill, or plantation |
Upper Plantation |
|
Middle Plantation |
|
enstool |
|
Brazil: Aragão's slave shop. |
|
Fanti |
West African Akan people; their states; their language |
feitor-mor |
Brazil: general manager |
fly-whisk |
tool made from the tail of an elephant or a cow, used to keep flies off the head of an important person |
fontomfrom |
Akan: talking drum |
fufuú |
|
Brazilian tree (ficus doliaria martius) used by West African slaves for worship as a substitute for the iroko (odum) and nsanda. |
|
Ganga-zumba |
King of Palmares |
garapa |
|
Golden Stool |
(Akan: sika dwa) symbol of the unity of the Asante state |
Gonja |
|
gonje |
African stringed instrument |
Grumah |
state in northern Ghana |
guinea corn |
sorghum |
guiney bird |
slave newly arrived from Africa |
harmattan |
dry wind which blows from the Sahara across West Africa accompanied by a dusty haze |
Hausa |
|
Ijebu cloth |
cloth manufactured in the Yoruba area of Nigeria |
Imam |
Muslim cleric |
irmandade |
Brazil: fraternal organization within the Catholic church |
Kambonse |
Dagbon name for the Asante; also Dagbon musketeers |
Kano |
Hausa town in Nigeria |
Katsina |
Hausa town in Nigeria |
kenkey |
Ga: boiled maize-bread (=Akan: odokono) |
kente |
|
Kokofu |
Asante state and its capital |
Kokofuhene |
king of Kokofu |
kokoko |
Akan: greeting giving notice of approach; knocking |
kola, kola nut |
|
Konadu-krom |
Konadu's town or village. Village named after Konadu. |
Kongos |
slaves from the Kongo in West Africa |
Konkomba |
see Bekpokpam |
Kòse |
Akan: expression of sympathy. Sorry. |
Kpembe |
Gonja capital |
Kpembewura |
title of the Gonja king |
Kpugnumbu |
character in Dagomba history |
Kumbong-Na |
commander of the Royal Dagomba Archers |
ladino |
|
lagarto |
Brazil: large lizard |
lobishomem |
Brazil: werewolf-like creature of folklore |
loofah |
vegetable washing sponge |
Maame |
|
malam |
Muslim teacher |
malungo |
Brazil: slave who was a fellow-traveller on a slave ship |
Mampon |
Asante state and its capital |
Mamponhemaa |
queen-mother of Mampon |
Mamponhene |
king of Mampon |
Mamprusi |
people of northern Ghana |
Mande |
people of the upper Niger river valley; their language |
Manso |
Fanti town where there was a large slave market |
massapé |
Brazil: heavy clay soil suitable for the cultivation of sugar |
maté |
Brazil: tea-like beverage |
milréis |
Brazil: unit of currency = one thousand reals |
Mina |
|
Misericórdia |
|
mmã yeñkô |
Akan: let's go |
mmoatia |
|
mmusua | Akan: plural of abusua, q.v. Families |
mónsoré |
Akan: plural imperative of soré, get up. |
Mossi, Moshi |
People of Burkina Faso and northern Ghana |
Na |
title of Dagomba king |
Na Gariba |
Dagomba king |
Na Gbewa |
Dagomba king |
Na Yagasi |
Dagomba king |
Nagô |
Brazil: Yoruba |
Nakpali |
Dagomba frontier town |
Nana |
Grandfather/grandmother; title of respect for an Akan chief or elder; plural: nananom, ancestors |
Nanumba |
people of northern Ghana |
nsanda |
Ki-Kongo: West African tree, often sacred. |
Nsuta |
One of the founding states of Asante |
odum |
Akan: West African tree, often sacred. (Yoruba: iroko) |
odwira |
Yam festival |
ohemmaa |
Akan: queen-mother |
ohene |
Akan: king |
oheneba |
Akan: royal prince; son of a king |
okòmfó |
Akan: priest |
okro mouth |
a gossip |
olaria |
Brazil: pottery |
omankyeame |
Akan: royal spokesman |
onyame-dua |
Akan: god's tree; household shrine |
Akan: God (Saturday born) |
|
Onyankopon Kwame, Asase Yaa, nananom, agyanom, enanom |
|
oponko |
Akan: horse |
osofo |
Akan: priest |
Oti |
river in north-east Ghana |
oware |
Akan: a board game. |
traditional priest |
|
palanquin |
|
Palmares |
|
peredwan |
|
pini do |
Akan: shift up, make room |
pito |
alcoholic drink made from fermented corn |
Predikant |
Dutch: preacher |
quilombo |
Brazil: colony of escaped slaves |
Recôncavo |
Brazil: sugar growing region in Bahia |
saá |
Akan: so, thus |
safra |
Brazil: sugar harvest season |
sanko, osanku |
Akan: stringed musical instrument |
sasabonsam |
Akan: mythical ogre of the forest |
|
|
sese |
Akan: West African tree used for carving |
senzala |
Brazil: slave cabin, hovel |
Shangó |
Yoruba deity: deified fourth king of Oyo |
shea butter |
fat obtained from the seeds of the shea tree, used as food, for illumination, for cosmetic purposes and for making soap. |
Simbew |
Fanti town famous for its slave market |
skin |
|
stool |
Akan symbol of royal office |
Tano |
River in Ghana; name of the spirit which lives in the river |
tarefa |
Brazil: daily task; standard plot of sugar cane |
Tempu |
Kongo deity |
Tindan Na |
Guardian of the Land; Bekpokpam priest |
Tohajie |
semi-mythical ancestor of the Dagomba |
tokoo |
Asante unit of weight for gold dust; one-sixth of an ackie |
Tolon-Na |
Commander-in-Chief of the Dagomba King's army |
Tsetse |
bloodsucking African flies which transmit sleeping sickness to livestock; particularly virulent in the forest zone |
tweapea |
|
wofa |
Akan: maternal uncle; term of respect for an older man |
xaque-xaque |
Brazil: hollow metal instrument shaped like a dumb bell, with pebbles in each swollen extremity |
Ya Na Sitobu |
Dagomba king Sitobu |
Yendi |
Dagomba capital |
Yendi-Na |
Dagbon: king of Yendi |
Zabzugu |
Dagomba frontier town |
Zamfara |
|
Zangina |
Dagomba king |
Zaria |
Hausa town |
zongo |
|
Zuarangu |
town in northern Ghana |
Zumbi |
commanding officer of the army of Palmares |