Linguistic Evidence for Cultivated Plants in the Bantu Borderland

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Periodical article

Title:	Linguistic Evidence for Cultivated Plants in the Bantu Borderland
Author:	Blench, Roger
Year:	1994-1995
Periodical:	Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa
Volume:	29-30
Pages:	83-102
Language:	English
Notes:	biblio. refs.
Geographic terms:	Nigeria Cameroon Africa
Subjects:	plants food crops plant names Bantu languages prehistory History and Exploration Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups) Anthropology and Archaeology language Language and languages history ethnobotany
External link:	https://doi.org/10.1080/00672709409511663
Abstract:	This paper has two goals: to clarify the results of recent research on the relationships between Bantu and Benue-Congo languages, and to explore the reconstruction of crop names in the 'intermediate' languages with a view to generating hypotheses on the antiquity of agriculture in the Nigeria-Cameroon borderlands. The paper first discusses the proposed genetic 'tree' linking Bantu and the Bantoid languages. The second part deals with specific crops, beginning with a caveat on the use of reconstructions of crop names. A strong impression from the still fragmentary linguistic evidence is the gradual entry of domesticates into subsistence strategies. The complex pattern of vernacular terms for crops in the 'Bantu borderland' suggests that the development of agriculture was a far from sudden process. App., bibliogr., sum.