Asar Imhotep African Origins of the Word Nike

African Origin of the word “Nike” By Asar Imhotep (October 23, 2013)

The MOCHA-Versity Institute of Philosophy and Research

luntu/lumtu/muntu This paper is an examination of the Greek word nike, which has become famous, in modern times, as a result of the sports apparel company by the same name (created by Bill Bowerman and Phil Knight). Practically all of the dictionaries that have examined this word suggest that the word nike is Greek. In this brief essay, we suggest that the term is not of Greek derivation, but is indeed African and that this term is a borrowing into the Greek language: possibly from Egypt. Before we can get into the heart of our discussion, we must first properly define this term in Greek. The Online Etymological Dictionary (OED) has the following examination: Nike: Greek goddess of victory (identified by the Romans with their Victoria), literally "victory," probably connected with neikos "quarrel, strife," neikein "to quarrel with." As a type of U.S. defensive surface-to-air missiles, attested from 1952.

Wikipedia has the following: In Greek mythology, Nike (Greek: Νίκη, "Victory", pronounced [nǐːkɛː]) was a goddess who personified victory, also known as the Winged Goddess of Victory. The Roman equivalent was Victoria. Depending upon the time of various myths, she was described as the daughter of Pallas (Titan) and Styx (Water),[1][2] and the sister of Kratos (Strength), Bia (Force), and Zelus (Zeal).[1] Nike and her siblings were close companions of Zeus, the dominant deity of the Greek pantheon. According to classical (later) myth, Styx brought them to Zeus when the god was assembling

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allies for the Titan War against the older deities. Nike assumed the role of the divine charioteer, a role in which she often is portrayed in Classical Greek art. Nike flew around battlefields rewarding the victors with glory and fame. Nike is seen with wings in most statues and paintings. Most other winged deities in the Greek pantheon had shed their wings by Classical times. Nike is the goddess of strength, speed, and victory. Nike was a very close acquaintance of Athena, and is thought to have stood in Athena's outstretched hand in the statue of Athena located in the Parthenon.[3] Nike is one of the most commonly portrayed figures on Greek coins. [4] Names stemming from Nike include among others: Nikolaos, Nicholas, Nicola, Nick, Nicolai, Nikolai, Nicolae, Nils, Klaas, Nicole, Ike, Niki, Nikita, Nika, Niketas, and Nico.

Statuette of goddess Nike found in Vani, Georgia.1

Some of Nike‘s attributes can be summarized as follows: Symbol: wings; often depicted with a wreath of victory or a staff; the chariot Strengths: very fast runner, swift flyer, able charioteer Weaknesses: can be capricious (inconsistent) in dolling out victory Parents: daughter of Styx, called a nymph but actually the presiding spirit over the major river of the Underworld, and Pallas, a Titan. He has three brothers: Zelos ―rivalry,‖ Kratos ―strength,‖ and Bia ―force.‖ Other: Some sources give her father as Ares, the God of War. The most famous statue of Nike is the Nike of Samothrace, a Greek island in the northern Aegean. This statue is now in the Louvre Museum in Paris.2

In other words, the word nike is a Greek term that means ―victory‖ and it has been personified as a winged goddess with the same name. Research has uncovered that many of the Greek gods, in fact, derive from ancient Egypt (Obenga 1992, Bernal 1987, Diop 1991). This is definitely the opinion of Herodotus 1

Retrieved from Wikipedia October 22, 2013. See ―Fast Facts: Nike‖ by deTraci Regula. http://gogreece.about.com/od/greekmythology/a/mythnike.htm (retrieved October 23, 2013) 2

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who took great advantage of the opportunity, in his Book II, to hammer down this belief of the adoption of Egyptian gods by the Greeks. As Herodotus suggests: The names of nearly all the gods came to Greece from Egypt. I know from the inquiries I have made that they came from abroad, and it seems most likely that it was from Egypt, for the names of all the gods have been known in Egypt from the beginning of time, with the exception (as I have already said) of Poseidon and Dioscuri—and also of Hera, Hestia, Themis, the Graces, and the Nereids. I have the authority of the Egyptians themselves for this. (Herodotus, Book II 50.2)

We suggest here that the goddess Nike, meaning ―victory,‖ derives her name from an Egyptian word, and that Herodotus is correct in his assessment—at least with this goddess—as it regards the origin of the name of Greek gods.

An African Examination Other sources accessible to the author for the word nike ―victory,‖ in Indo-European, do not posit a derivation of the term beyond the Greek language. Therefore, it is assumed that this word is a Greek innovation. It is my contention that the word nike is a loan from Egyptian and is rendered nxt ―strong, victory, victorious, mighty, stiff, hard, stiffen, become hard, successful‖; Coptic nchot "victory, become hard and strong." The Egyptian form provides us with a wider range of meanings and a central theme can be ascertained from an examination of variant forms provided in the following table. Hieroglyphs

Lexeme nxt

Meaning victory, strong, victorious, stiff, hard, obdurate [ adjective ]

nxt

hack up, cut up [ verb ]

nxt

powerful [ adjective ]

nxt

strong, victorious, mighty, stiff, hard, stiffen, become hard, successful [ adjective + verb ]

nxt / nxtw

strength, force, power, victory [ noun ]

nxt

strong man, champion, bully [ noun ]

nxt

a strong of arm, adult, a champion [ adjective + noun ]

nxt

to be stiff

nxt

a heroic [ adjective ]

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nxtw ib

courage, valour, bravery [ noun ]

nxtw

strength, victory, hostages [ noun ]

nxtw

stronghold, fortress [ noun - arch. ]

nxtt

power, strength, triumph, stiffness, rigidity (of organs etc) [ noun bod. ]

nxt

to protect [ verb ]

As we can see here, the variety of associations ranges from ―courage, bravery, strength, power and protection.‖ The concept of ―victory,‖ as seen here, is associated with having the necessary ―strength‖ and ―courage‖ to overcome a seemingly insurmountable obstacle. Although the Indo-European (IE) languages have another word for ―victory,‖ the range of meaning for such terms mirrors that which we find in the Egyptian variations of nxt. For example, Mallory & Adams, in their book The Oxford Introduction to Proto-Indo-European and the Proto-IndoEuropean World (2006: 281), provides the following commentary on a conceptually relatable word to nxt. To conquer one‘s enemy is indicated by *seĝh- and its derivatives which mean ‗conquer‘, ‗victory‘ (e.g. OIr seg ‗strong‘, NHG Sieg ‗victory‘, Grk ekhurós ‗Wrm, strong‘, Hit sakkuriya‗overcome‘, Skt sáhas- ‗victory‘, sáhuri- ‗victorious‘), and ‗hold fast‘ (it supplies the basic Greek verb ékhō ‗hold‘). The word was also a popular element in personal names among the Celts (e.g. Gaulish Sego-marus) and Germans (ON Sigurðr). Probably originally a nominal root, *gwyehawhich means ‗physical force‘ in both Greek and Indic can also mean ‗overcome‘ (e.g. ON kveita ‗make an end to, kill‘, Grk bíā ‗physical force, violence‘, Skt jyắ ‗force, violence‘, jinắti ‗overpowers, suppresses‘).3

We see here that ―victory‖ is connected to ―strong, conquer, physical force and violence.‖ As demonstrated above, fundamentally, these meanings for *seĝh- are inherent in the word nxt. The cognate term for Egyptian nxt or Greek nike in ciLuba-Bantu is nke "solid, hard, fixed" (syn. ndendende "tenacity, toughness, persistence"). The -t in the C3 position of nxt is a suffix. This is often mistaken as a feminine affix, but this is not the case. This suffix brings about a secondary meaning on a noun or adjective that does not have the suffix.4 It also serves as a nominalizing affix on verbs (i.e., turns verbs into nouns). Moreover, the suffix can also act as a definite or indefinite article like in Kalenjiin: e.g., chii ―man,‖ chiito ―a man‖; ko ―house,‖ koot ―a/the house.‖ A few examples are in order:

3

If we are to assume that the s- in *seĝh- ―conquer‖ is a ―causative prefix,‖ then * seĝh- and nxt might share the same historical root: i.e., -g- and -x- respectively. Compare the PIE -gh- segment to Egyptian kh-A ―strong blow‖ (storm), kh-b ―name of Set; encounter (the bull), damage,‖ kh-sw ―malevolence,‖ kh-s ―haughty, rough.‖ More investigation is needed here. The root of nxt will be discussed further below. 4 Dr. Taaita araap-Toweett, in his Kalenjin Nouns and Their Classifications master‘s thesis (1975) introduced the terms inclusive singular nouns (i.s.n) to refer to all Kalenjiin singular nouns that are in their primary form and do not, therefore, have the grammatical /-t/ suffix. The Kalenjiin are modern descendents of the ancient Egyptians who speak a Nilo-Saharan language (see Sambu 2007, 2011).

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Egyptian: sr ―sheep‖; sr(j).t ―a particular sheep‖ Kalenjiin: kechiir ―sheep‖; kechiiryet ―a sheep‖ Egyptian: aw ―large‖; aw.t ―largeness‖ Kalenjiin: oo/woo ―large‖; oo-into/oo-indo ―largeness‖ (t>d) Egyptian: bjn ―bad, evil‖ (adjective); bjn.t ―‖evil‖ (noun) Kalenjiin: bunyoon ―enemy‖ (adjective); bunyoot ―an/the enemy‖ (noun) Kalenjiin: boon ―witching‖; bondit ―an/the evil‖ or ―the witchcraft‖ Egyptian: am ―eat‖; am.t ―food‖ Kalenjiin: am ―eat‖ (verb); amiit ―food‖ or amdit ―the food‖ (noun) Egyptian: msyt ―evening meal‖ Kalenjiin: amisyeet ―any meal‖ (both terms deriving from the verb root am ―eat‖) Egyptian: mn ―be ill‖; mn.t ―sickness, disease, wound‖ Kalenjiin: mian ―be ill‖; mian-eet ―the state of being sick,‖ mion-to/mion-do ―sickness, disease, illness‖ Egyptian: mtw ―to speak, talk‖; mt.t ―speech, decree, word‖ Kalenjiin: mwa ―speak‖; mwaeet ―speech‖ or mwaitaaet ―announcement.‖ (see also, amda (amta) ―preach, inform,‖ which becomes amdaaet (amtaaet) ―sermons, lessons and information‖) (Sambu, 2011: 145-146)

With this being said, we suggest that the form nxt is a secondary derivation on a primary form; one by way of the suffixal /-t/. Forms without the -t suffix can be seen below: Hieroglyphs

Lexeme nx

Meaning succor, protect, protection [ verb + noun ]

nxw

protector, defender [ noun ]

nxw

Helper [ noun - title ]

The /x/ and /S/ sounds in Egyptian often interchange (see Imhotep 2013, Bilolo 2011). With that said, the following terms may be relevant: nS ―expel (from), disown (a woman)‖; nS ―to drive out.‖ The n- in nxt is another morpheme. This leaves -x- as the root and can be seen in the word xw ―protection‖; xwj ―protect, exclude, exempt, set aside, avoid, prevent, equip with.‖ Because this root means ―valor, strength, victory, courageous, protection, etc.,‖ these characteristics are often associated with ―battle‖ and ―war.‖ The -x- root can be seen in such related terms as r a xt ―war, combat, battle‖5; xrw ―battle, war.‖ The /x/ sound also corresponds to /H/ in Egyptian (dialectical?). Therefore, we have reflexes of aHA ―war, combat, battle, fight‖; aHAwty ―warrior, male, man‖ (x>H). Notice how the -ty suffix provides a secondary meaning on the primary root in the later example. The x-r variations of the root in Egyptian are given as k-l in Bantu. The following is from the Bantu Lexical Reconstruction 3 (BLR3) online database. Note that Proto-Bantu (PB) /l/ is realized as /d/. 5

The word xt can mean ―stick, staff, cane‖; ―wood, timber, tree, woodland, mast, stick, pole, rod‖ and is used in battles or fights. We also have the word xt a ―a weapon.‖ So r a xt, basically, means to ―use a weapon‖ (go to war).

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MAIN

be strong; be hard; be difficult

H (V)

1874

être fort; être dur; être difficile Total Distribution: Regions: 5: NW SW Ce NE SE Zones: 12: B D F G H K L M N P R S MAIN

1874

H

V

DGHLMNRS

V

be strong; be hard; be difficult intoxicate

DER

1877

H

DER

1878

H

V

become intoxicated

BDFGHKLMNR

DER

7002

H_

N

strength

R

DER

7026

N7

drunkard

HLM

GHLMP

See also: MAIN

1872

HL

N 9/10

lion

BCHLR

MAIN

1875

H

V

work

DFJ

MAIN

1876

H

V

choke

EN

MAIN

1883

HL

bird of prey spp., hawk spp.

ABCDGJKLMNRS

MAIN

6999

H

N (5/6), (7/8), 9/10, 11/10, (12/13), (19/13) V

take; touch

CGJMN

MAIN

7008

HL

N9

crocodile

C

We should take some time to note how this root in Bantu is applied to and becomes the word for certain animals that are known to be ferocious and skilled hunters: *kóci ―lion,‖ *kódì ―crocodile,‖ *kódì ―bird of prey‖ (hawk). As stated earlier, the /x/ and /H/ interchange or are variants of each other. We should also note that the /A/ sound was historically a /r/ or /l/ (Imhotep, 2013). With that said, Proto-Bantu *kódì ―bird of prey‖ (hawk) is a dialectical variant of the Egyptian word Hr or Hrw ―The god Horus,‖ which is personified as a ―hawk/falcon.‖ He is known for revenging the death of his father and engaging in a long drawn-out battle with his uncle Set. The linguistic phenomenon of paronymy is at play in this story. Paronymy involves a perceived relationship between words that sound alike or are similarly pronounced. Egyptologists call this ―punning.‖ Thus, Hr ―hawk, Horus‖ (< PB *kód ―be strong‖) is associated with aHA ―war, combat, battle, fight‖ and xrw ―battle, war.‖ In Egyptian, the /r/, /A/ and /n/ sounds interchange (Lorpieno, 1995: 33). Often these interchanges in sound provide slight shades of meaning on the root. It is also my contention that the Egyptian sounds /q/, /x/, /k/, /H/ and /h/, are in reality variants of each other. With that said, I argue that Egyptian nxt ―victory‖ is just a variant of the word qnt ―victory‖ by way of metathesis on the velar and nasal consonants in the C1 and C2 positions, respectively. The following table provides the following reflexes of qnt.

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Hieroglyphs

Lexeme qnt

victory, might [ noun ]

Meaning

qn

Brave man, Elite Soldier, Hero [ noun - title ]

qni

powerful (of speech), stout (of heart), active [ adjective + verb ]

qni

be strong, valiant, mighty, capable, active [ verb ]

qn

to weaken [ verb ]

qni

eager, strong [ adjective ]

qnw

feats [ noun ]

qnw

brave deeds [ noun ]

qn

offence, audacity [ noun ]

qn

complete, accomplish, cease, bring to an end, to finish off [ verb ]

qnt

brutality, violence [ noun ]

qnqn

castigation, beating, blows [ noun ]

qnqn

to assault [ verb ]

qnqn

to bruise [ verb ]

qnqn

flatten (metal), deal wrongly (with), to be beaten [ verb ]

qnqn

crush, beat (people), kill, pound up (medicines), beat out, to assault [ verb ]

qni

conquer, amount (to), be profuse [ adjective + verb ]

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As we can see here, qn(t), and its variations, have the same meanings as nxt mentioned earlier. We will now explore parallels of the linguistic term and of the goddess Nike with the Yorùbá god of iron Ògún (H and n>r. As noted in Proto-Bantu, *kódì ―bird of prey‖ (hawk) is a dialectical variant of the Egyptian word Hr or Hrw ―The god Horus,‖ and derives from the same root as PB *kód ―be strong; be hard; be difficult.‖ In ciLuba we have Nkulu, Nkole, Ngal, nGole, Cyal, Kal; ciKololo ―hawk, bird, raven.‖ These terms can also refer to a ―prominent man.‖ We note as well that the goddess Nike is depicted with ―wings,‖ just like @rw (Horus) among the ancient Egyptians. Egyptian H-r is k-l in ciLuba. The k-l root in ciLuba has the following reflexes:

8

See www.goddessnike.com/goddess_nike_and_her_roles.php (retrieved October 23, 2013) Linguistically, names that correspond with ògún (g-n) in Yoruba will drop the final -n in Igbo (-g-). 10 Ogwugwu is also the spirit of the ―dark forests.‖ 9

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kale, kala11: to be strong, strong, well, vigorous, arduous, firm, steady, solid, hard, immovable, fixed, steadfast, powerful, robust, tough (as meat), violent, severe, serious (matter), fertile, or rich or productive (soil), loud (voice); kala (v): to be strong, be full grown, be mature, be firm, be steady, be stable, be solid, develop, grow, be mature, to exist, to be.

Thus, Nike is a variant of Ògún (Akin; Qayin/Cain), which are both variants of @rw (Horus). They refer to the courage, strength and valor needed in times of war and in the hunt. The inspiration comes from witnessing the wonder and damage done by ancient volcanoes. When surmounted by immeasurable challenges, it is the ―spirit of the volcano‖ (an erupting fire; bravery) that allows one to triumph over adversity. These terms also refer to the instruments of war, which are needed to ensure ―victory‖ or ―success‖ in any battle. The one who has the most advanced weapon, and can wield the weapon most efficiently, will have the upper hand in a fight. It is strength, determination and the willingness to never give up (persistence, be stubborn) that will ensure success in life. These are the characteristics needed in all sports and that is the spirit of what is captured in the name for the modern sports apparel company: Nike. Although Nike and Ògún are different genders, it should be noted that Ògún is also a goddess in Yorùbáland (Barnes 1997). We noted that Yorùbá g-n can also correspond to Egyptian k-m. Therefore, worthy of consideration is kmjt ―goddess‖ [Wb V 130]. Another interesting parallel exists between Ògún and Nike. However, it is not between the deities themselves, but between Ògún and the Nike ―swoosh‖ symbol on the logo for the apparel company.

The famous swoosh looks like a ―check‖ sign. But it also looks like the traditional swords of Yorùbáland, which can be seen in the image below.

11

It should be noted that within ciLuba, the /l/ is often interchangeable with /m/. The /l/ corresponds to Egyptian /m/ and /n/ as well.

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Above is a figure carrying a ceremonial sword called udamalore ―sword of the well born,‖ from the Yorùbá people of Owo, Nigeria | Ivory | Late 19th century. The udamalore is a ceremonial sword worn by the Olowo, ruler of Owo, and his high-ranking chiefs. It shows the wearer is considered well born, mature, powerful and influential, a person who is like the elephant. This fragment is from the tip of the sword blade and portrayed a chiefly figure crowned with a coral openwork cap holding a sword. The cap originally had a bird, the emblem of spiritual powers, projecting from its side. The shape of the blade may be inspired by the shape of an elephant‘s trunk. The figure above is currently being held in the Smithsonian‘s National African Museum of Art, Washington, DC (Object Number: 2005-6-80).

As we can see here, the Nike swoosh and the Yorùbá udamolare sword are very close in shape. I do not argue that the Nike Company ―borrowed‖ this shape and modified it from Africa; just that it is ironic that an instrument of Ògún would find symmetry in design with a modern sports company that bears its name unknowingly. Millions of consumers are walking around with a bit of African religion at the soles of their feet. Maybe this is the secret to Michael Jordan‘s success! —Asar Imhotep

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http://africanlanguages.com/kalenjin/ Page 17 of 18

Meeussen‘s Proto-Bantu Reconstructions http://linguistics.berkeley.edu/CBOLD/Docs/Meeussen.html Tower of Babel http://starling.rinet.ru/ Yorùbá Dictionary http://www.yorubadictionary.com/

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