NORNA-RAPPORTER 88 Binamn. Uppkomst, bildning, terminologi ...

30 Bertie Neethling
The derivative pattern above is clear. The Xhosa examples in 1 exhibit syllable
retention usually of the first two syllables while the rest is dropped. The opposite
takes place with the examples in 2: the retention of the last two syllables.
The rest is dropped. (Xhosa has an open syllable structure, i.e. syllables end in
vowels. The only exception is the syllabic ‘m’.) The English and Afrikaans examples
exhibit a preference for a one-syllabled shortened form, particularly of
the first type.
This may seem unproblematic and even predictable. The most interesting
observation regarding these examples, is the following pertaining to the Xhosa
examples: Xhosa first names are usually without fail semantically transparent
and hence ‘meaningful’, particularly also from a cultural point of view. Names
are constructed via the lexicon of Xhosa and knowledge of the language leads
one to a fairly easy interpretation of the name meaning. Xhosa people generally
pride themselves on their names and often consider their Xhosa names as ‘superior’
to Western type names with no immediate and obvious meaning. The
irony with the shortened forms is that there is invariably a ‘loss’ of meaning due
to the shortening. The shortened forms now function pretty much as the
Western name that is often considered as ‘meaningless’. It is also noticeable
that gender name markers in female names, such as no-, is lost in the shortened
forms. – A few examples :
Luyanda : It (= family) is expanding
Luya : no meaning
Simcelile : We requested him (from a Supernatural Entity)
Sim : no meaning
Sandisiwe : We (family) have grown/been expanded
Siwe : No meaning
Vuyiseka : The one that made (us) happy
Seka : No meaning
The considerations that applied in the original namegiving process are no
longer evident in the shortened forms, except perhaps in an indirect way via the
base name. This, of course, links up with the well-known viewpoint that a name
need not have current lexical value to function as a name. The pressure to
shorten longer type names is so huge that this highly rated aspect of name
giving among the Xhosa is sacrificed. In the similar examples from the Afrikaans
and English speaking students this is not as evident, given the more ‘obscure’
etymology of their names. There is an exception though: Muslim students
from this group usually have Arabic names also derived from the Arabic
language with clear and discernable meaning. Just as with the Xhosa personal
names, these names nearly without fail represent positive and pleasant attributes.
The shortening of such names has the same effect of that of the Xhosa
names : the essential meaning is lost or only a partial meaning is retained.