En Afrique, pourquoi meurt-on ? Essai sur l’histoire d’un mythe africain
Among the myths of origin of death, that of the perverted message has a very particular distribution in Africa. Its areology and the study of its mythemes with phylogenetic tools show that its most archaic variant, involving only one messenger, is rooted in the Khoisan area. According to this first...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | deu |
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Institut des Mondes Africains
2015-07-01
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| Series: | Afriques |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://journals.openedition.org/afriques/1717 |
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| Summary: | Among the myths of origin of death, that of the perverted message has a very particular distribution in Africa. Its areology and the study of its mythemes with phylogenetic tools show that its most archaic variant, involving only one messenger, is rooted in the Khoisan area. According to this first type, Moon mandates Hare to deliver to humanity a message of life; Hare alters the message, which introduces death among men, who hate Hare since this fateful day; in punishment, Hare is hit and keeps a split lip. This primitive type was later modified by the introduction of a second animal messenger rivaling the first. According to this new type, widely distributed in Africa by peoples speaking non-Khoisan languages, the Creator mandates a messenger to bring humans a message of life, but this messenger walks slowly; while he wanders, a second messenger decides for himself to start, and this one comes first, but he modifies the message, which introduces death among men. The distribution of the archaic versions supports the hypothesis of an ancient language area originally extending from the east to the southern tip of Africa, then split into two parts by the Bantu expansion, the Khoisan area being its southern relic. |
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| ISSN: | 2108-6796 |