Category: Mwinika Language and Culture

Ehipa yariimela mutthu ontaka okotja mukukuthimwe. (If a hoe is misplaced one starts searching for it under the bed.) One should always start looking for a missing item in the core of the home (under the bed) before looking for it in unlikely places. One shouldn’t go to the neighbors and look for the missing […]

“Mutthu khanrummwa othela.” (A person is never told to go marry.) A young adult never needs to be told to go get married, he is quite capable of figuring that out for himself. One uses this proverb to say “that’s obvious” or “duh!”

“Eruwa kheneetta, oneetta owese-ya.” (The termite mound doesn’t go anywhere, what goes places are the termites.) A father or a mother doesn’t run errands, who runs errands are the kids. In the same way an important people don’t do small tasks, they have underlings to do small tasks.

Nikhule khanin’yeva ni anaye. (A mouse is not small when with its children.) Most things in life are a matter of perspective. A mouse might seem small to us but its children see it as big.

job>>>jobar>>>ojobari = otjopari Languages are living. Every now and again we are reminded of this when we come across a new variation in a word. Recently I heard a new term: “otjopari”. It has an interesting etymology. It is an English word (job) that was given a Portuguese verbal ending (-ar) that was then given […]

This is a traditional Mwinika story of the race between the Rabbit and the Turtle. “The Rabbit and the Turtle were good friends. One day they decided together to make a garden. When the time came for their garden to produce it really produced well. They had lots of food, things like sorghum, corn, peanuts, […]

“Olamela okhwaranya opuha.” (What you are used to is better than having lots of something good that you are not used to.) It is like saying “I would rather have the plain food that I am used to than a banquet of food that I am not used to.” This proverb expresses the feelings of […]

This is a traditional Mwinika story of the Mwiikhopololo (a type of lizard) and the Nipalaka (a type of large locust or grasshopper). It was the time of the dry season that uncontrolled bush fires rage. The lizard dug a hole to serve as his home. Then one day about mid-day there came an uncontrolled […]

“Omwiina kirinkina onvenyera.” (To dance the kirinkina dance one has to get up.) You can’t get what you want by daydreaming. You have to put in some effort. To dance you have to stand up and go join the dancing, you cannot participate sitting down. The Mwinika use this proverb when someone wants something but […]

“Mutthu ahommwa mwiiwa ompatjere waakula vale vahommawa.” (A person pierced by a thorn begins to remove it at the place where it went in.) The point of this proverb is to say that one must start to fix a problem at the point where it started. We used this proverb to show that the key […]