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Ch. 2: The Traditional Ophir Land

Ch. 2: The Traditional Ophir Land Page of 449 Ch. 2: The Traditional Ophir Land Text size:minus plus Restore normal size   Mail page  Print this page
54 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
Who was this Benomotapa whose vassal was housed in such a castle ? — the mighty black sovereign of whom Camoens sings —
" Ve do Benomotapa o grande imperio, De Salvatica gente, negra e nua."
In dull fact Benomotapa was simply the corrupted plural form of Monomotapa, signifying Lord of the Mountain, or by a possible stretch of derivation, Master of the Mines.1 This was one of the hereditary titles of the head chief of the Kalangu
1 "The Portuguese in South Africa," George McCall Theal.
Bent says the name Monomotapa should be written Muene-matapa, or " lord ofMatapa," simply " a dynastic name, just as every petty chief in Mashonaland to-day has his dynastic name, which he takes on succeeding to the chiefdom." "The Ruined Cities of Mashonaland," p. 285. Both titles have in fact the same meaning : the first components bena and mono being the still current Bantu words bwana, bana, muene, mwana, that is 'lord,' 'master,' 'chief,' 'ruler.' The second part, motapa, common to both, probably means a mine, from the Bantu word tapa = * to dig,' 'excavate.' "Africa," Vol. II, p. 372. (Stanford's Compendium.) A. H. Keane.
Ch. 2: The Traditional Ophir Land Page of 449 Ch. 2: The Traditional Ophir Land
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