Unravelling the ancient etymology of �oka�

It is amazing how many words the basic term oka has spawned. As we noted last week, it is a ‘proto-term’ i.e. a term that resonates across many languages and hints at a now-lost universal language we all once spoke as recently as the Neolithic era (scientifically, the era began ‘circa 10 200 BC’ and ended around 4 000 BC for some cultures).

This week, I unearth vestiges of this protolanguage in the specific context of the proto-term oka (a verb) and its noun oko.

The term oka basically means ‘attract’ and we have dealt with aspects of it in the past weeks…always in the light of Setswana. Let us begin with the English term ‘hook’. From a Setswana perspective, we can see that it compares favourably with ho-oka: ‘to attract [and hold on to]’ (in Sesotho, the h is still pronounced softly whereas in Setswana it has hardened to a sound similar to the Spanish J in ‘Julio’). The term boka (consisting of ba/be + oka) basically means ‘be attracted’. In Sesotho, the term ba/be – as in the phrase ‘a be bonolo: ‘he must be gentle’ – is still used according to the ancient way it was used in Sumerian (I detected this directly from their epics).

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