Mulungu is a common name of the

creator deity A creator deity or creator god (often called the Creator) is a deity responsible for the creation of the Earth, world, and universe in human religion and mythology. In monotheism, the single God is often also the creator. A number of monolatr ...

in a number of Bantu languages and cultures over

East East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fac ...

, Central and

Southern Africa Southern Africa is the southernmost subregion of the African continent, south of the Congo and Tanzania. The physical location is the large part of Africa to the south of the extensive Congo River basin. Southern Africa is home to a number o ...

.Gonzales, cap. 3Mlondolozi
''A new dictionary of Religions''
Reference Online
/ref> This includes Yao, Nyamwezi, Shambaa,

Kamba Kamba may refer to: *Kamba people The Kamba or Akamba (sometimes called Wakamba) people are a Bantu ethnic group who predominantly live in the area of Kenya stretching from Nairobi to Tsavo and north to Embu, in the southern part of the f ...

, Sukuma, Rufiji, Turu, Ameru and

Kikuyu Kikuyu or Gikuyu (Gĩkũyũ) mostly refers to an ethnic group in Kenya or its associated language. It may also refer to: * Kikuyu people, a majority ethnic group in Kenya *Kikuyu language, the language of Kikuyu people *Kikuyu, Kenya, a town in Cent ...

In traditional Bantu cultures

Origin, diffusion, and etymology

The original early-Bantu name for the highest God of gods, creator and father of all gods, was probably ''Nyàmbé'', possibly from the verb root ''-àmb-'', "to begin". With the diversification of Bantu cultures, other names came about, with "Mulungu" emerging in the ancient Southern-Kaskazi group (about 6000 BC). The etymology of the name is disputed. One hypothesis is that the name is derived from a verb root ''-ng-'', meaning "to be rectified", "to become right"; in this case, the original concept of Mulungu is that of a creator god that established the original, right order on the world.

Description

All traditional Bantu cultures have a notion of a "creator god", a concept which was already established in the Niger-Congo cultures. This creator god is usually seen as a remote deity, far and detached from men and living beings; in some cases, it is more of an impersonal "creating force" or a ''

primum movens The unmoved mover ( grc, ὃ οὐ κινούμενον κινεῖ, ho ou kinoúmenon kineî, that which moves without being moved) or prime mover ( la, primum movens) is a concept advanced by Aristotle as a primary cause (or first uncaused cau ...

'' than a "God" in the usual sense of the word. Even when described as a personal god, the Creator is believed to be far and detached from men and living beings; this detachment is the subject of a number of Bantu myths describing how the creator left the Earth, moving to the sky, as a consequence of him being upset with men or annoyed by their activities. It is thus a common trait of Bantu religions that no prayers, and usually no worship, is actually directed to the creator; men interact with lower-levels gods and spirits that are closer and more interested in human affairs. These general lines are common to traditional concepts of Mulungu as found in Kikuyu, Ruvu, and other cultures. A Nyamwezi myth about the departure of Mulungu from the Earth involves Mulungu being upset of the fires set by men to the landscape, and asking the

spider Spiders ( order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, chelicerae with fangs generally able to inject venom, and spinnerets that extrude silk. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species ...

to weave a web for him to climb up to the sky.Mulungu
on Myth Encyclopedia

Modern uses

With the advent of either Islam or

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

, the word "Mulungu" was usually adopted to mean the Christian or Islamic God. Over thirty translations of the

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts ...

in African languages use the word Mulungu to refer to the Father.Bleeker and Windengreen (1971), p. 556 As another example,

Jesus Christ Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

is referred to as ''mwana wa Mulungu'' ("child of Mulungu") in modern religious songs in

Chichewa language Chewa (also known as Nyanja, ) is a Bantu language spoken in much of Southern, Southeast and East Africa, namely the countries of Malawi , where it is an official language, and Mozambique and Zambia. The noun class prefix ''chi-'' is used for ...

(

Malawi Malawi (; or aláwi Tumbuka: ''Malaŵi''), officially the Republic of Malawi, is a landlocked country in Southeastern Africa that was formerly known as Nyasaland. It is bordered by Zambia to the west, Tanzania to the north and northeas ...

). The word was also used in Swahili Islamic literature before the derivative name "Mungu" became more common.

Footnotes

References

* Bleeker, C. J. and G. Widengreen (1971), ''Historia Religionum'', Brill.
On GoogleBooks
* Ehret, Christopher (1998), ''An African Classical Age''. * Frankl, P. J. L. (1990), ''The word for "God" in Swahili'', «Journal of Religion in Africa» XX (3)
Estratto su JStor
* Gonzales, Rhonda, ''Societies, Religions, and History: Central East Tanzanians and the World They Created, c. 200 BCE to 1800 CE.'

* Nurse, Derek and Thomas J. Hinnebusch. ''Swahili and Sabaki: A Linguistic History''. University of California Press, Los Angeles, 1993. Bantu mythology African gods Thunder gods Sky and weather gods Names of God in African traditional religions

In traditional Bantu cultures

Origin, diffusion, and etymology

Description

Modern uses

See also

Footnotes

References