Cecil, Master Of Information, there is something that may have slipped by your keen intelligence. That is - There is no such word in Swahili as “Kwanzaa”. The Swahili word for “First Fruits” is “Malimbuko”. Also, in the beliefs, there is a mixture of infinitives and nouns. Kwanza means “First” as in “In the first place”, “In the beginning” “To start with” or “First” in the sense of “Aliniona kwanza” - He/She saw me first. “First”, in the sense used in “Kwanzaa”, is “Mosi” or “Moja”. Also, Swahili, deemed to be the native language of Africans, originated as a trade pidgin, a “Lingua Franca”, but gained its current status because of the multiplicity of local languages. It has actually become the first language of many. It was the language used by the slavers who captured the people of Central and Western Africa. “Swahili” derives from the Arabic word for “Coast”. If a more original language is wanted, consideration should be given to a language such as Hausa.
Welcome to the Straight Dope Message Boards, Alben, we’re glad you’re here. For future ref, when you start a thread, it’s helpful to other posters if you provide a link to the column under discussion. In this case, I assume it’s the second half of Why aren’t green or blue naturally occurring human hair colors? What’s Kwanzaa? - The Straight Dope (about Kwanzaa.) No biggie, you’ll know for next time, and, as I said, welcome!
Which is why I thought it strange that so many Americans of African heritage took it up as a part of their culture back in the '70s.
Kwanzaa didn’t even exist until the mid-60s:
[QUOTE=Wikipedia]
Kwanzaa is a week-long celebration held in the United States and Canada but also celebrated in the Western African Diaspora. The celebration honors African heritage in African Canadian and African-American culture, and is observed from December 26th to January 1st of each year, culminating in a feast and gift-giving.[1] It is ideological, with seven core principles (Nguzo Saba): Unity, self-determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity, and faith. It was created by Maulana Karenga, and was first celebrated in 1966–67.
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As to Alben’s point that Kwanzaa isn’t proper Swahili for the word “first” in “first fruits” (i.e., there’s already a singular Swahili word for the English phrase “first fruits”)… well, I won’t debate the claim, but I would argue that this fault arose because apparently Maulana Karenga (born Ronald Everett in rural Maryland in 1941) lacked Alben’s erudition and familiarity with Swahili. Still, Cecil didn’t make it up. Don’t blame his Cecilness for correctly reporting the origins and naming of the holiday. And, given that the Kwanzaa bit is part of a tack-on in a 1994 (AOL era?) “Straight Dope Classic”, I imagine there just weren’t column-inches available to include a critique of Karenga’s poor grasp of his purported Pan-African language. :smack:
Perhaps it’s true that Swahili was the trade language of the slave trade, but its origins are East African… which still strikes me as odd that African Americans of West African descent would latch onto it as some idealized Pan-African language. I guess that may have been part of Alben’s point.
Unfortunately, a good many Americans of African heritage are either ignorant of or in denial about the African end of the slave trade.