Akyinsoromma wɔ Akan Kasa mu (Planets in the Akan Language)-gctid71068

[Ɔbenfo Ọbádélé]

Wumameniwadeɛ - Mercury
Kyɛkyɛ - Venus
Asase - Earth
Yakɔɔ - Mars
Obindasum - Jupiter
Fɛtɛade - Saturn
Anyankama - Uranus
Akyerɛmansa - Neptune
*Bediapan - Pluto

Source: Boadi, Asɛm Kwasi (2005). Twi Kasa Mmara Ne Kasɛsoɔ. Kumasi: Katawuri.

[Agya Yaw]

This is great (what about Uranus?). Looks like I will be creating more flashcards for astronomical terms . If you know more lay them on us. Like asteroid, comet, sun, star, moon, galaxy, orbit. Meda ase.

[Ɔbenfo Ọbádélé]

Yaw Asare Aboagye;71070 wrote: This is great (what about Uranus?). Looks like I will be creating more flashcards for astronomical terms . If you know more lay them on us. Like asteroid, comet, sun, star, moon, galaxy, orbit. Meda ase.

Hey, leave Myanus out of this! You'd think I left it out just to be able  to tell that corny joke. It's not in the dictionary but I have one of  my colleagues contacting the author about the omission.

Nyankommoɔ - Asteroid
Nsoromma - Star
Comet - Nsorommatua-odua/Nyankommoɔ
Owia - Sun
Bosome/Ɔsrane/Ɔsram - Moon
Nsoromma-akuo - Galaxy
Nyankomfɛtɛ - Orbit

[Agya Yaw]

Meda ase. I thought would have said, me turumu. But I guess that doesn't rhyme, huh .

[Ɔbenfo Ọbádélé]

Ampa. Twi a, saa na anka yɛbɛka no o.

[Agya Yaw]

Space -
Atmosphere -
Constellation -
Gravity -
Solar System -
Universe -
Astronomy -

[Ɔbenfo Ọbádélé]

Space - ahunumu
Atmosphere - ewiem
Constellation - nsoromma-kuo
Gravity - oduro
Solar System - awia ne akyinsoromma (ahodoɔ a ɛtwa ho hyia)
Universe - abɔdeɛ
Astronomy - nsoromma ho nimdeɛ/nsɛnkekaeɛ

[Agya Yaw]

Obadele Kambon;71649 wrote: Space - ahunumu
Atmosphere - ewiem
Constellation - nsoromma-kuo
Gravity - oduro
Solar System - awia ne akyinsoromma (ahodoɔ a ɛtwa ho hyia)
Universe - abɔdeɛ
Astronomy - nsoromma ho nimdeɛ/nsɛnkekaeɛ

Meda ase o!

Asɛmmisa, oduro -> aduro (medicine). Is there an etymological link?

[Ɔbenfo Ọbádélé]

@Yaw Asare Aboagye, oduro comes from the adjective duro - to be heavy. Any link would be to this as a root of both aduro and oduro. I've never heard of the conceptual link made between the two, but it wouldn't take much imagination to folk-etymologize up a likely back-story.

Sent from my Ghana-made RLG L8

[Ɔbenfo Ọbádélé]

Yaw Asare Aboagye;71070 wrote: This is great (what about Uranus?). Looks like I will be creating more flashcards for astronomical terms . If you know more lay them on us. Like asteroid, comet, sun, star, moon, galaxy, orbit. Meda ase.

The author just called me. Uranus is Anyankama.

[Afia Pɔmaa]

Meda ase pi!

This is just what we needed! Some of the children in our homeschool cooperative from other traditions have also found correlations between the Neteru and Orisa with planetary bodies. Do those exist in Akan with Abosom? If there is our elder Akomfo are not aware; my husband and I would like to share those with our children too.

[Afia Pɔmaa]

Me kyea ya wo!  Are you all aware of what the translations are for the planetary names in Twi? Another parent was saying that the translations were not exactly the planets. We were interested in what they actually were. For instance the word for universe refers to Nyame so, it makes sense that it speaks to the magnanimity of the universe.  We'd  love the translations if you  have them available so we can discuss them with the children.

[Ɔbenfo Ọbádélé]

(Note the spelling is mekyea wo)

Megye wo so!

I know one brother who actually studied Twi here at aK who makes these connections based on the Abosom which are associated with the days of the week and then links them to the greek/roman deities associated with the days of the week. From there, he does a back translation making correlations between greek/roman deities and Ntrw. One of a few discrepancies that come up in this analysis is the 10 day week of Kmt vs the 8 day week of the Akan (which is more or less consistent with the 7 day week as Sunday is counted as both the first and last day). In other words his work seems like more of a direct correlation between Akan week day Abosom and greek/roman versions and then a link between greek/roman deities and Ntrw which are more well-known.

According to Akrofi et. al. (1996) the word for universe is abɔde nyinaa 'all creation'. Boadi (2002) has abɔdeɛ as nneɛma a ɛfiri ɔdomankoma (=nnua, mmoa, nnipa) 'things from Ɔdomankoma'. Kotey (1998) has wiase 'world' and abɔde nyinaa 'all creation'. Aboagye et. al. (2002) has abɔde as biribiara a Ɔbɔadeɛ ayɛ 'Everything that the Creator has made' and Ɔbɔadeɛ nsa ano adwuma 'the handiwork of the Creator'. Apraku (2003) has universe defined as wiase nyinaa 'All the world'. Anane (2000;2012) has universe as 1 wiase, wiadze 2 amansan 3 ahunum awiakwanmu. Christaller (1933) also has abɔde as 'creation'.

I'm not sure if your informant is using Nyame so with the understanding of so 'to be big' or so 'on'. In either case, this would be a statement rather than an understanding of the connotation of universe as expressed in English or really an indigenous understanding of how universe would be expressed.

For me I prefer abɔdeɛ or abɔdeɛ nyinaa as universe for several reasons. One, wiase is better translated as world as it has a connotation of being related to human activity and furthermore, etymologically, it comes from ewi 'atmosphere' ase 'under' which, cannot express what is meant by universe (although we see an extension of the greek concept of cosmos 'world' to encompass more in contemporary english). Other options like amansan are also dispreferred as they, again have a connotation of dependence on human activity and also etymologically come from aman 'nations' san  'in procession' as in santen. Ahunum awiakwanmu is literally 'in emptiness in the path of the sun' where ahunum or ahunmu is preferred for outer space.

As for the names of the planets, all of them come from Boadi (2002). It's a Twi - Twi dictionary and definitions are those such as Obindasum ed. owia ho okyinsoromma a ɛtɔ so 5; Englandfoɔ frɛ no Jupiter. The dictionary doesn't offer an etymological breakdown for any of these, but, this one, for example, could be understood as coming from Obi 'someone' nda 'does not sleep' sum 'darkness'. It may be worth contacting the author directly to consult him with regard to the etymology and origin of the various planet names he proposes and the reasons why each planet has the name it has. Some like Yakɔɔ 'Mars' with kɔɔ 'red' are more obvious than others. Apart from Asase, of course, Kyɛkyɛ is the only other one I've seen in another context as it features prominently in the Adinkra "Kyɛkyɛ pɛ awareɛ" also known as Ɔsrane/Ɔsram ne nsoromma. At any rate, the author Asɛm Kwasi Boadi can be contacted directly at +233209173852.

[Ɔbenfo Ọbádélé]

   
You can use this app to see the alignment of Fɛtɛade and Obindasum

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.stardroid