Times Of Swaziland: THE ORIGIN OF SURNAMES AND ITS POWER

THE ORIGIN OF SURNAMES AND ITS POWER
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By Mncedisi Dalmini on 23/04/2020 06:53:00


THE COVID-19 pandemic has brought the whole world to its knees, what a difficult
situation we find ourselves in. Let us take all the recommended precautions; we
can conquer this if we work together.
There is a rainbow in the eye of the storm; through all the negativity, there is
something positive to pick. The lockdown may have disturbed a lot, however, we
may use it for family time, especially the parents who hardly spend time with
their children because of work. This is the time to bond. We hardly have time to
visit homes such that funerals have become family reunions, life neh!
Family
Talking about family, what makes one family? Never mind the philosophical
approach that family is anybody who shows great care for you. Yes, all human
beings are distant relatives from the genesis of all things. What happens when
you meet a person you share a surname with? You quickly embrace that person and
call him or her your flesh and blood, right?
As a child, my mind was always plagued with this question; where did surnames
come from? I was smart enough to understand names but dumb enough not to
understand surnames. So I took it upon myself to find out, I couldn’t stay in
the dark for the rest of my life. As we all know, our history is not documented
in books but our tongues were pages, generationally narrated. My quest led me to
my elders. Our elders are our museums; let us take care of them! My elders told
me how surnames came about.
Abilities
Surnames developed from people’s names, like the Mamba clan. They descend from
a man whose name was Mamba. Surnames also developed from people’s abilities,
look at the Mnisi clan. Mnisi simply means rainmaker. Mnisi was blessed with a
sweet tongue; he had the ability to flirt with the sky until it gave in and
donned dark clouds and rains poured. Animals fattened, plants dressed in green
and life flourished.
To us, surnames are more than just letters put together. They are very important
and significant. Surnames show a sign of respect and affection. We address each
other by surnames when we greet. We recite the surname’s praise when we ask
for forgiveness or when giving thanks. Surnames are our biographies; they
document the legacies and triumphs of each clan.
Surnames’ praises tell you about the character of that particular clan, from
the praises one can tell if that person is short-tempered or not. After being
beaten to a pulp, uve emaSwati atsi ‘yena vele bekentani, akabati yini kutsi
bantfu balesa sibongo abasukelwa’.  Here is my two cents advice; get the
surname first before you mess with anybody ngoba uyohlangana netimbila titfutsa.
Surnames are our dietician, they tell us what to eat, what not to eat.
Genetics
The Dlaminis do not eat black sheep. Surnames tell us about genetics; we may not
have been as ‘educated’ as colonizers demeaned us to be but we knew that if
this surname mated with that surname, a deformed baby would be born. To us,
surnames are the umbilical cord linking us to those who came before us, those
sleeping six feet under keeping the ground intact for us to run wildly chasing
our dreams. We address them by their surnames to listen to either our cries or
thanksgiving.
It is a crime against humanity to deny the paternity of a child you know that he
or she stems from your seed. It is a crime against humanity to wrongly surname
your child when you know who the real father is. You are ashamed of your
actions, we get that, but the child deserves better! What we witness on
programmes such as Utatakho is heart wounding, it makes one wonder how many
children out there are wrongly surnamed and the negative it has on them.