Emet (or Em) is a
Kalenjin Kalenjin may refer to:
* Kalenjin people
The Kalenjin are a group of tribes designated as Highland Nilotes and are descended from Maliri people ''(thus related to Daasanach of Ethiopia.)'' The Kalenjin are cousins with Datooga people of Tan ...
term for the largest recognized territorial division within the
Kalenjin society of pre-colonial
Kenya
)
, national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"()
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, image_map2 =
, capital = Nairobi
, coordinates =
, largest_city = Nairobi
, ...
. The word Emet in contemporary Kalenjin as used to denote a country derives from this term.
Origin
Ehret posits that the Emet territorial division of the
Kalenjin Kalenjin may refer to:
* Kalenjin people
The Kalenjin are a group of tribes designated as Highland Nilotes and are descended from Maliri people ''(thus related to Daasanach of Ethiopia.)'' The Kalenjin are cousins with Datooga people of Tan ...
is of ancient origin. From linguistic evidence, it seems probable that the
Southern Nilotes, organised themselves into clans or at least different clusters of associated clans - what could be called tribes - which coincided with particular territories. These "tribes" and the territory they occupied were called *e:m.
Function
The traditional Kalenjin geographic division, emet, primarily served as a territorial identity, it had limited military mobilization capacity and played no administrative functions.
Current use
In contemporary Kalenjin lexicon, the word emet is used to mean country, e.g. emet'ab Kenya where 'ab is of.
[The Kalenjin are on trial, not Sang, says lawye]
online
/ref>
References
{{reflist
Kalenjin