Debility and the Moral Imagination in Botswana

Gossary of Setswana Terms

Glossary of Setswana Terms badimo: ancestors bagolo: elders banna (sing. ngwana): children bapro¤ti: see mopro¤ti batlhanka: servants batsete: see motsetse batsofe (sing. motsofe): elderly people Batswana (sing. Motswana): Tswana people boaga: building boboko: brain bogadi: bridewealth payments bogole: disability bogologolo: the past; a long time ago bogosi: chiefship bogwera: male initiation bojale: female initiation boloi: witchcraft bongaka: medicine; the Tswana therapeutic system bonyatsi: long-term amorous relationship bopelotelele: patience; forbearance; lit. long-heartedness boswagadi: disease caused by unpuri¤ed widows; puri¤cation rites for widows botho: humanity; personhood botsenwa: mental illness botsofe: old age; senescence dibeela: toxic abominations; some substances of sorcery; traps or pitfalls digole (sing. segole): disabled persons digotlo: see segotlo dikgaba: misfortune brought by the sorrowful or bitter heart of a scorned elder dikgosana: headmen; diminutive of dikgosi dikgosi (sing. kgosi): chiefs dingaka: see ngaka ditlhare: see setlhare ditlhogo (sing. tlhogo): heads; portion of meat given to maternal uncle ditsenwa: see setsenwa ditshika: nerves; veins go alafa: to heal go bereka: to work for a wage go dira: to do; to make go swa mogama: stroke; hemiplegia, lit. to be half-dead go thaya: to strengthen gompieno: today itekanela: healthy; ¤t; well; self suf¤cient kgosi: see dikgosi kgotla: village meeting site; political assembly; customary court lefufa: jealousy, envy legwane: see magwane lekolwane: see makolwane leswa¤: see maswa¤ letsholo: public assembly lolwapa: compound courtyard lorato: love losika: vein; artery; relative; family madi: blood; semen; money ma¤sa: system by which cattle are loaned to an individual for herding to the bene¤t of that individual and the cattle owner magwane (sing. legwane): big boys; pre-initiation unruly youth makgwelwa: deserters makolwane (sing. lekolwane): young men malome: maternal uncle mashi: milk maswa¤ (sing. leswa¤): persons with albinism mephato: see mophato merafe (sing. morafe): nations; chiefdoms; tribes meraka (sing. moraka): cattle post Modimo: God molwetsi: patient mopakwane: disease caused by breaking of sexual taboo after the birth of a child, causing impairments in the child mophato (pl. mephato): age-based regiment mopro¤ti (pl. bapro¤ti): healing prophet morafe: see merafe moraka: see meraka motho (pl. batho): person motsetse (pl. batsete): postpartum mother still in con¤nement motsofe: see batsofe mowa: breath; spirit; soul naga: bush ngaka (pl. dingaka): doctor ngwana: see banna nyatsi: lover (see bonyatsi) pelo: heart popelo: womb sefuba: chest segole: see digole segotlo (pl. digotlo): backyard sejeso: poison; sorcery substance sethunya: pain; gun; ®ower setlhare (pl. ditlhare): tree; medicine setsenwa (pl. ditsenwa): person with mental illness thibamo: disease whose onset begins in a child in an unusual birth position (breech, face 244 Glossary down), resulting in symptoms in the parents similar to those of pulmonary tuberculosis tlhaloganyo: mind; understanding tlhogo: see ditlhogo tsofetse: has become old; aged Tswana: noun root used as shorthand for things persons associated with the place, culture , language, and norms of the Batswana Glossary 245 ...