Glossary & Terminology
Cultural, chieftaincy, archival and historical terms used throughout Si Hene. Wherever one of these words appears in a record or a place profile, it links back here.
Term recovered; definition awaiting research.
Term recovered; definition awaiting research.
Term recovered; definition awaiting research.
Term recovered; definition awaiting research.
Akan word for history: an account or story of past events. Christaller analyses it as 'nsɛm a aba kɔ' (matters that have come and gone) and cross-references the near-synonym abasɛm.
The elders recounted the abakɔsɛm of the town at the gathering.
Christaller (1881) glosses aban as 'a house built of stone … a large fine building, palace'; aban-kɛse is 'fort, castle'. Curnow (The Bright Continent) notes that the stone building in Kumase known as the Aban was completed in 1822.
The Asantehene's stone Aban in Kumase was completed in 1822.
Coastal Fante town in the Central Region of Ghana, north-east of Cape Coast, in the Mfantseman area; most inhabitants are fishermen. It is the site of Fort Amsterdam (Kormantin).
Fort Amsterdam stands on the hill above Abandze.
Term recovered; definition awaiting research.
Term recovered; definition awaiting research.
Female day-name for a girl or woman born on Tuesday (Benada). Christaller (1881) lists Abena among the female day-names, matching the male Kwabena.
A girl born on a Tuesday may be named Abenaa.
Akan word for a young man or youth. Christaller gives the synonym akwankwaa.
Every aberantee in the town joined the communal labour.
Christaller (1881) glosses aberewa as 'old woman, matron, mother', noting that 'm'aberewa' is a very respectful way to address one's mother.
The children greeted the elderly woman respectfully.
Term recovered; definition awaiting research.
Term recovered; definition awaiting research.
Zimmermann's Ga vocabulary (1858) glosses abei as 'butterfly'.
A child pointed at the abɛi resting on the flower.
Akan word for an old woman, matron or mother. Christaller also records secondary senses of aberewa as a kind of mat and a kind of European cloth.
The aberewa told stories to the children in the evening.
A rite of public confession and enquiry held during the Kundum festival, in which the community's grievances and wrongdoings are brought into the open before the deities and the chief. It functions as an annual clearing of accounts between people and between people and the gods. Related observances are found among the Ahanta and in Côte d'Ivoire as Abissa.
Abisa allows a townsperson to speak plainly to the chief without reprisal.
The third and final stage of the Nzema Kundum festival, which S. E. Etikpah identifies as the purification rite. As with the other stages, it is marked by the ɛdɛneyelɛ libation rite with invocations (nza ɛgualɛ). The phrase contains azule, 'river'.
The Abisa azule nu ɛdolɛ, the purification rite, closes the Kundum celebration.
The second stage of the Nzema Kundum festival, which S. E. Etikpah identifies as the public performance of the festival. It is marked by the ɛdɛneyelɛ libation rite. Ivorian sources describe a parallel stage of the Abissa, the Gouazo, as the 'coming-out' of the Abissa.
The Abisa gua zo ɛralɛ is the public, performed stage of Kundum.
The first stage of the Nzema Kundum festival, which S. E. Etikpah identifies as the preparation rite. It is marked by the ɛdɛneyelɛ libation rite. The Ivorian Abissa has a parallel first stage, the Siédou, in which the sacred drum is secluded for about a week.
The Abisa siedu ɛhɔlɛ opens Kundum as its preparation rite.