Note 148 — Chapter V

The legend may arise from the name; one suspiciously like it (and these things can hardly happen in pairs) will presently be found in the word Agri-go-men. The “History of Dahomy” explains the word by “The house in Da’s belly,” remarking in a note, “The belly, in the Dahoman tongue, is homy.” But the nasal n and the terminal aspirate in Danh are sensible. Moreover, the English slur at the end of Homy is here inadmissible. The word Ho, “venter” is articulated with the guttural Arabic Ha (ح) sometimes, though erroneously, confounded with the Spanish Jota, which is the Semitic Kha (خ). Ho-men (stomach in) means the ilia. Thus the full compound word would be Danh-ho-men (meaning either “Danh’s intestines,” or “In Danh’s belly”). The people prefer the latter. This nasal n being unmanageable, both to reader and printer, I discard for “Dahome.” The public, however, is requested to pronounce Dah-ome like Ashan-ti instead of Dahómy and Ashantí. The Portuguese, who are weak at gutturals, get over the Semitic Ha by changing it into g,—“Dagomé.”