bakru

Sranan Tongo

Etymology

Probably from Kongo ǹ-kúlu (“ancestors, the dead”), from Proto-Bantu *-kudu (“adult, senior”).[1] Cognate of Saramaccan bakúlu (“lower god, dwarf ghost”), Aukan bakuú (“evil spirit”). Compare English baccoo.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /bakɾu/, [ba̠kɾu], [bɑ̟kɾu]

Noun

bakru

  1. an evil forest spirit represented as a ghost-like little man with a big head

References

  1. ^ Norval Smith (2015) “A preliminary list of probable Kikongo (KiKoongo) lexical items in the Surinam Creoles”, in P. Muysken, N. Smith, editors, Surviving the Middle Passage: The West Africa-Surinam Sprachbund, Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton, →ISBN, page 427
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