Note 224 — Chapter IV

Bantu, properly Aba-ntu, "people." Aba is one of the numerous personal prefixes, each with its corresponding singular form, which are the cause of so much confusion in Bantu nomenclature. To aba, ab, ba answers a sing. umu, um, mu, so that sing. umu-ntu, um-ntu or mu-ntu, a man, a person; plu. aba-ntu, ab-ntu, ba-ntu. But in some groups mu is also plural, the chief dialectic variants being, Ama, Aba, Ma, Ba, Wa, Ova, Va, Vua, U, A, O, Eshi, as in Ama-Zulu, Mu-Sarongo, Ma-Yomba, Wa-Swahili, Ova-Herero, Vua-Twa, Ba-Suto, Eshi-Kongo. For a tentative classification of African tribes see T. A. Joyce, Art. "Africa: Ethnology," Ency. Brit. 1910, p. 329. For the classification of Bantu tongues into 44 groups consult H. H. Johnston, Art. "Bantu Languages," loc. cit.