dyumbi

Sranan Tongo

Etymology

Probably from Kimbundu nzumbi (“dead body, ancestral spirit; talisman”), Kongo m-vúumbi, Yombe m-vúúmbi ("deceased, dead body").[1] Compare English jumbie, zombie, Haitian Creole zonbi, Portuguese zumbi.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈd͡ʒumbi/, /ˈɟumbi/

Noun

dyumbi

  1. ghost, spirit, spectre
    • 1959, Trefossa, “Owrukuku ben kari [The owl called out]”, in Ursy M. Lichtveld, Jan Voorhoeve, editors, Creole drum. An Anthology of Creole Literature in Surinam‎[1], New Haven, London: Yale University Press, published 1975, →ISBN, page 208:
      Busi ben kon tron wan spuku-spuku dungru hipi; i ben kan yere fa dowwatra b' e dropu fadon na den wiwiri, nèlek na dyumbi b' e waka na tap den finga-ede.
      The jungle had become a ghostly dark heap; you could hear how the dewdrops were dripping on the leaves, as if ghosts were walking on tiptoes.

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 432
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