More on the word "SHA".

It seems my post on why Botswana should be called SHASHE has touched some raw nerves somewhere. I readily acknowledge that the words SHA and CHA mean BURNING in a number of languages, Tswana and Sotho among them. But I still think that in ancient Kalanga, the word SHA also meant residence, or domicile. If we accept that at the "Tower of Babel" the Lord did scramble one common language to produce many, then it will be futile to argue over what SHA meant when the gods walked the earth. However, if we undertake to "prove" that it meant what it means in Setswana today, we should live up to our undertaking and provide the proof; something which some columnists are dismally failing to do.

One columnist's quest for the "ancient" root of the word SHA, starts with what the word means in Setswana today - BURN. He then jumps to the Hebrew word SHEM and claims that there is a link between the two words. I dispute this. The way ancient text is rendered in modern writing has one big flaw. Ancient text often "embedded" a vowel into a consonant, especially into the last consonant. Thus the last M in SHEM may actually be MA, ME, MI, MO or even MU.

An Anunnaki rocket was called CHIMA or CHIMI which mean the same thing - something that stands (Ku MA, in Kalanga). An oxen whip is also called CHIMI. I believe it got so called because of the explosive sound it makes - just like an Anunnaki rocket. A very good pointer to the word CHIMA for a rocket is that a maize cob is called CHIMANGA in Kalanga. CHIMANGA literally means "resembling CHIMA". Another word used for the rocket was SHAMU. In modern Kalanga SHAMU means a lash. And so we have two Kalanga words, CHIMI and SHAMU, both referring to an Anunnaki rocket, and both also referring to a lash/oxen whip. The graphic/mnemonic representation of these words has been shown in the "ancient Maori hieroglyphic script" found on Pitcairn Island. That script has a picture of a person brandishing a whip, which picture I interpreted as CHIMI/SHAMU meaning A ROCKET.

 It can be argued that the word SHAMU does conform to the "Tswana root" :- SHA (meaning BURN), and the word MU (meaning ground). That would vindicate our Tswana friend, because a rocket (SHAMU) would mean BURNING THE GROUND. But it can also be argued as I do, that the SHA in SHAMU means domicile, while the MU still means ground. In this case the word for rocket i.e. SHAMU means "the one that sits on the ground". Maybe I am right, maybe our Tswana friend is right; hard to say for sure.

But like I said, subsequent to the scramble of the original common language at Babel, it is possible that the Tswana root SHA may have also originated then. Let us examine a few words in Kalanga with the SHA component:

SHAmbnga or SHAngwa: meaning "dirt"; breaks down to SHA (residence or domicile), MBNGA or NGWA (dog). In other words the Kalanga word for DIRT has its roots in "a dog's house". This makes a lot more sense than our Tswana friend's "SHA" for burn, and MBNGA for dog; burning dog or hot dog? LOL, doesn't make any sense at all!

NSHASHA is a roof-less enclosure, usually made of reeds or twigs to mitigate against wind. There is usually a fire in such an enclosure, therefore the SHA here can refer to "domicile", or to "burn"!

SHANGU is a shoe. NGU is "cover", as in NGUbo (blanket) or NGUpe ( a girl under initiation, who gets covered). SHA here could mean "burn" - the shoe covers the foot from burning. But it could also mean "the ground where we STAY/SIT, in which case the word SHANGU means covering the ground. Both meanings are quite plausible.

Just about any human emotion is sometimes referred to as a "burn": - will; anger; love; happiness; desire; loathing. It could therefore be sheer coincidence that the Tswana word SHA (meaning BURN) is spelt the same way as the Arabic word for WILL (i.e. sha), and not an indication that the two words share a common root.

What all this shows is that our Tswana friend has really not demonstrated, contrary to his claims, that the morden Tswana word SHA has any root more ancient than today, where SHA means BURN, in SeTswana language. My claim that SHA means "residence or domicile" still stands, and therefore I still believe that SHASHE means "King's domicile", i.e. King Anu's domicile, and that the Republic of Botswana is best named Republic of SHASHE!