International African Institute

Standard Shona Dictionary by M. HannanReview by: Hazel CarterAfrica: Journal of the International African Institute, Vol. 33, No. 1 (Jan., 1963), p. 82Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the International African InstituteStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1157812 .

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On this topic the author is thorough and comprehensive and specialists of the area will find the book indispensable. J. VANSINA

Standard Shona Dictionary. Compiled by M. HANNAN for the Southern Rhodesia Native Affairs Department and distributed by the Southern Rhodesian African Literature Bureau. London: Macmillan, I959. PP. xvii, 825. Ias. 6d.

FATHER HANNAN and his assistants are to be warmly congratulated on having achieved the

production of this dictionary, containing about 20,000 Shona entries, in the remarkably short period of four years. Entries are limited to those still heard in speech and are esti- mated to include some 80 per cent. of the words at present in use. While one may not en-

tirely agree with the compiler's arguments in support of the decision to list words under the first letter of the prefix and not that of the root, it is difficult to find any fault with a work so

badly needed for so long, marking a tremendous step forward in Shona studies, and which has already abundantly proved its usefulness in the three years since its appearance. One curious class of omissions is that of entries from Ndau; the lack of Kalanga words is more understandable. One follows Father Hannan in regretting that the Shona Language Com- mittee did not approve the marking of tone except for homographic words; this would have rendered the dictionary of greater assistance to Shona speakers wishing to know something of dialects other than their own, as well as to European students. In the Introduction there is a firm promise of future editions and it is heartening to know that work on this project is already in progress. One would like to express the hope that eventually the abbreviated

English-Shona index will be expanded to full dictionary size, perhaps in a separate volume. HAZEL CARTER

Pactes de sang et pactes d'union dans la mort chez quelques peuplades du Kwango. Par L. DE Sous- BERGHE. Bruxelles: Academie royale des Sciences d'Outre-Mer, classe Sciences morales et

politiques, Mem. in-80, 22, 2, I960. Pp. I6o, ill., carte. 200fr. FATHER DE SOUSBERGHE has studied the Pende and other Kwango peoples from several

angles. In I958 a magnificently illustrated volume on Pende art, L'Art Pende, followed earlier studies. This volume is his second and fullest publication on suicide pacts.' He has found not only among the Pende but also among their neighbours in the Kwango region of the Congo, and even in Angola and Rhodesia, a widespread custom of swearing eternal

fidelity, even to death. Such pacts may be between spouses, brothers, friends, or even be- tween two villages which promise eternal alliance. They may be sealed with blood or with other rites. If one partner dies the other should forthwith commit suicide. If he breaks the

pact and survives unduly long, he can expect that his predecessor will surely kill him. Certain physical symptoms such as putrefaction of the flesh while still alive show that the sick person has broken a blood pact.

Death pacts between lovers or between ageing married couples are by no means uncommon in this country. Between I955 and I958 Professor John Cohen found evidence of fifty-eight such pacts in England and Wales, by studying the Registrar General's records. Obviously Father de Sousberghe has not had such facilities for conducting his research. It is not even

always clear from his discussion whether death has indeed followed a suicide pact or whether the secret existence of a pact has been inferred after the simultaneous death of a married pair. Sometimes we are reading about beliefs about the causes of death and are in the realm of

magic, and sometimes we are reading about a custom of suicide. Either subject is of great intrinsic interest and this study opens many lines of inquiry. MARY DOUGLAS

I ' Pactes de sang, pactes d'union dans la mort . . .', Ac. Roy. des Sci. Col. iii (1957), 3.

On this topic the author is thorough and comprehensive and specialists of the area will find the book indispensable. J. VANSINA

Standard Shona Dictionary. Compiled by M. HANNAN for the Southern Rhodesia Native Affairs Department and distributed by the Southern Rhodesian African Literature Bureau. London: Macmillan, I959. PP. xvii, 825. Ias. 6d.

FATHER HANNAN and his assistants are to be warmly congratulated on having achieved the

production of this dictionary, containing about 20,000 Shona entries, in the remarkably short period of four years. Entries are limited to those still heard in speech and are esti- mated to include some 80 per cent. of the words at present in use. While one may not en-

tirely agree with the compiler's arguments in support of the decision to list words under the first letter of the prefix and not that of the root, it is difficult to find any fault with a work so

badly needed for so long, marking a tremendous step forward in Shona studies, and which has already abundantly proved its usefulness in the three years since its appearance. One curious class of omissions is that of entries from Ndau; the lack of Kalanga words is more understandable. One follows Father Hannan in regretting that the Shona Language Com- mittee did not approve the marking of tone except for homographic words; this would have rendered the dictionary of greater assistance to Shona speakers wishing to know something of dialects other than their own, as well as to European students. In the Introduction there is a firm promise of future editions and it is heartening to know that work on this project is already in progress. One would like to express the hope that eventually the abbreviated

English-Shona index will be expanded to full dictionary size, perhaps in a separate volume. HAZEL CARTER

Pactes de sang et pactes d'union dans la mort chez quelques peuplades du Kwango. Par L. DE Sous- BERGHE. Bruxelles: Academie royale des Sciences d'Outre-Mer, classe Sciences morales et

politiques, Mem. in-80, 22, 2, I960. Pp. I6o, ill., carte. 200fr. FATHER DE SOUSBERGHE has studied the Pende and other Kwango peoples from several

angles. In I958 a magnificently illustrated volume on Pende art, L'Art Pende, followed earlier studies. This volume is his second and fullest publication on suicide pacts.' He has found not only among the Pende but also among their neighbours in the Kwango region of the Congo, and even in Angola and Rhodesia, a widespread custom of swearing eternal

fidelity, even to death. Such pacts may be between spouses, brothers, friends, or even be- tween two villages which promise eternal alliance. They may be sealed with blood or with other rites. If one partner dies the other should forthwith commit suicide. If he breaks the

pact and survives unduly long, he can expect that his predecessor will surely kill him. Certain physical symptoms such as putrefaction of the flesh while still alive show that the sick person has broken a blood pact.

Death pacts between lovers or between ageing married couples are by no means uncommon in this country. Between I955 and I958 Professor John Cohen found evidence of fifty-eight such pacts in England and Wales, by studying the Registrar General's records. Obviously Father de Sousberghe has not had such facilities for conducting his research. It is not even

always clear from his discussion whether death has indeed followed a suicide pact or whether the secret existence of a pact has been inferred after the simultaneous death of a married pair. Sometimes we are reading about beliefs about the causes of death and are in the realm of

magic, and sometimes we are reading about a custom of suicide. Either subject is of great intrinsic interest and this study opens many lines of inquiry. MARY DOUGLAS

I ' Pactes de sang, pactes d'union dans la mort . . .', Ac. Roy. des Sci. Col. iii (1957), 3.

On this topic the author is thorough and comprehensive and specialists of the area will find the book indispensable. J. VANSINA

Standard Shona Dictionary. Compiled by M. HANNAN for the Southern Rhodesia Native Affairs Department and distributed by the Southern Rhodesian African Literature Bureau. London: Macmillan, I959. PP. xvii, 825. Ias. 6d.

FATHER HANNAN and his assistants are to be warmly congratulated on having achieved the

production of this dictionary, containing about 20,000 Shona entries, in the remarkably short period of four years. Entries are limited to those still heard in speech and are esti- mated to include some 80 per cent. of the words at present in use. While one may not en-

tirely agree with the compiler's arguments in support of the decision to list words under the first letter of the prefix and not that of the root, it is difficult to find any fault with a work so

badly needed for so long, marking a tremendous step forward in Shona studies, and which has already abundantly proved its usefulness in the three years since its appearance. One curious class of omissions is that of entries from Ndau; the lack of Kalanga words is more understandable. One follows Father Hannan in regretting that the Shona Language Com- mittee did not approve the marking of tone except for homographic words; this would have rendered the dictionary of greater assistance to Shona speakers wishing to know something of dialects other than their own, as well as to European students. In the Introduction there is a firm promise of future editions and it is heartening to know that work on this project is already in progress. One would like to express the hope that eventually the abbreviated

English-Shona index will be expanded to full dictionary size, perhaps in a separate volume. HAZEL CARTER

Pactes de sang et pactes d'union dans la mort chez quelques peuplades du Kwango. Par L. DE Sous- BERGHE. Bruxelles: Academie royale des Sciences d'Outre-Mer, classe Sciences morales et

politiques, Mem. in-80, 22, 2, I960. Pp. I6o, ill., carte. 200fr. FATHER DE SOUSBERGHE has studied the Pende and other Kwango peoples from several

angles. In I958 a magnificently illustrated volume on Pende art, L'Art Pende, followed earlier studies. This volume is his second and fullest publication on suicide pacts.' He has found not only among the Pende but also among their neighbours in the Kwango region of the Congo, and even in Angola and Rhodesia, a widespread custom of swearing eternal

fidelity, even to death. Such pacts may be between spouses, brothers, friends, or even be- tween two villages which promise eternal alliance. They may be sealed with blood or with other rites. If one partner dies the other should forthwith commit suicide. If he breaks the

pact and survives unduly long, he can expect that his predecessor will surely kill him. Certain physical symptoms such as putrefaction of the flesh while still alive show that the sick person has broken a blood pact.

Death pacts between lovers or between ageing married couples are by no means uncommon in this country. Between I955 and I958 Professor John Cohen found evidence of fifty-eight such pacts in England and Wales, by studying the Registrar General's records. Obviously Father de Sousberghe has not had such facilities for conducting his research. It is not even

always clear from his discussion whether death has indeed followed a suicide pact or whether the secret existence of a pact has been inferred after the simultaneous death of a married pair. Sometimes we are reading about beliefs about the causes of death and are in the realm of

magic, and sometimes we are reading about a custom of suicide. Either subject is of great intrinsic interest and this study opens many lines of inquiry. MARY DOUGLAS

I ' Pactes de sang, pactes d'union dans la mort . . .', Ac. Roy. des Sci. Col. iii (1957), 3.

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