Things fall apart - Study Help Full Glossary

Study Help Full Glossary

kola nut the seed of the cola, an African tree.

The seed contains caffeine and yields an extract; it represents vitality and is used as a courteous, welcoming snack, often with alligator pepper.

leprosy a progressive infectious disease caused by a bacterium that attacks the skin, flesh, nerves, and so on; it is characterized by nodules, ulcers, white scaly scabs, deformities, and the eventual loss of sensation, and is apparently communicated only after long and close contact.

Making inyanga flaunting or showing off.

Markets Igbo weeks are four days long, and the market day is on the first of day each week; therefore, three or four markets is a period of twelve to sixteen days.

Mbaino This community name means four settlements.

Mbanta The name means small town and is where Okonkwo's mother comes from, his motherland, beyond the borders of Mbaino (Ikemefuna's original home).

Monkey tricks possibly a racial slur directed at the natives.

Ndichie elders.

The new dispensation the new system; the new organization of society under British influence.

Nna-ayi translated as our father; a greeting of respect.

Nso-ani a sin against the earth goddess, Ani.

The nuts of the water of heaven hailstones.

Nza a small but aggressive bird.

Obi a hut within a compound.

Ogbanje a child possessed by an evil spirit that leaves the child's body upon death only to enter into the mother's womb to be reborn again within the next child's body.

Ogbuefi a person with a high title, as in Ogbuefi Ezeugo (the orator) and Ogbuefi Udo (the man whose wife was killed in Mbaino).

Ogene a gong.

[Ogwu medicine, magic.

Okonkwo The name implies male pride and stubbornness.

Okoye an everyman name comparable to John Doe in English. Okoye represents all the people to whom Unoka owes money.

Oracle the place where, or medium by which, the deities are consulted; here, the Oracle of the Hills and the Caves.

Ostracize to banish, bar, exclude, etc. from a group through rejection by general consent of the members.

Osu a class of people in Igbo culture considered outcasts, not fit to associate with free-born members of the clan.

Osugo The name means a low-ranked person.

Ozo a class of men holding an ozo title; it also refers to the ritual which accompanies the granting of a title to a person.

Palaver a conference or discussion, as originally between African natives and European explorers or traders.

Palm fronds leaves of a palm tree. Here, they are tied together in clusters for "beating the ground" or the legs and feet of the pushing crowd.

Pestle a tool, usually club-shaped, used to pound or grind substances in a mortar, or very hard bowl.

Plantain a hybrid banana plant that is widely cultivated in the Western Hemisphere.

Prophets of Baal Mr. Smith is comparing the pagan worship of the warrior god Baal, mentioned in the Old Testament (I Kings 18) to the Igbo religion.

The Israelites saw the worship of Baal as a rival to their worship of God, causing the prophet Elijah to challenge the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel.

Python a very large, nonvenomous snake of Asia,

Africa, and Australia, that squeezes its prey to death.

Raffia 1) a palm tree of Madagascar, with large, pinnate leaves.

2) fiber from its leaves, used as string or woven into baskets, hats, and so on.

Resolute having or showing a fixed, firm purpose; determined; resolved; unwavering.

Sacrament of Holy Communion the most sacred ritual of participating Christians.

Saltpeter potassium nitrate; used in the preparation of snuff (also in gunpowder and fireworks).

Sharecropping working land for a share of the crop, especially as a tenant farmer.

Here, Okonkwo works as a sharecropper to obtain seed-yams.

Silk-cotton tree any of several large, tropical, trees (genera Bombax and Ceiba) of the bombax family that have capsular fruits with silky hairs around the seeds.

Here, the tree is revered because it contains spirits of good children as yet unborn.

Singlets men's undershirts, especially the sleeveless kind.

Snuff a preparation of powdered tobacco that is inhaled by sniffing, is chewed, or is rubbed on the gums.

Superfluous being more than is needed, useful, or wanted; surplus; excessive.

Taboo any social prohibition or restriction that results from convention or tradition.

Tie-tie a vine used like a rope; from Pidgin English to tie.

Tufia-a! This sound represents spitting and cursing simultaneously.

Twenty and ten years Igbo counting may not have a unique number for thirty, which is thus counted as twenty and ten.

Similarly, in French, seventy is counted as sixty-ten, and eighty is four twenties.

Twins two born at the same birth.

Here, according to Igbo custom, twins are considered evil and must be placed in earthenware pots and left to die in the forest.

Udo peace.

Udu a clay pot.

Uli a liquid made from seeds that make the skin pucker; used for temporary tattoo-like decorations.

Umuada daughters who have married outside the clan.

Umunna the extended family and kinsmen.

Umunna the extended family, the clan.

Umuofia kwenu a shout of approval and greeting that means United Umuofia!

Umuofia The community name, which means children of the forest and a land undisturbed by European influences.

Unoka Okonkwo's father's name; its translation, home is supreme, implies a tendency to stay home and loaf instead of achieve fame and heroism.

A war of blame In Chapter2, the villagers state that a "fight of blame" (which Okonkwo expects the peacemakers to label this fight against the strangers) would never be sanctioned by their Oracle, which approves only a "just war."

Therefore, what Okonkwo is considering may go beyond even the clan's traditions — a fight for which they may not have full justification from their gods.

Week of Peace In Umofia, a sacred week in which violence is prohibited.

Wherewithal that with which something can be done; necessary means.

Who is the chief among you? The kotma (court messenger) guards see by the anklets that all six leaders own titles and joke that they must not be worth much.

Yam foo-foo pounded and mashed yam pulp.

Yam pottage a watery gruel made of yams.

Yes, sah Yes sir; the form may be Pidgin English and illustrates how the native-born court messengers submitted to the orders of their white bosses — at least on the surface.