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spaz - Posted - 01/28/2010: 21:21:17
So I'm sure this has been discussed here before.. but I searched and couldn't find anything on this.. I was wondering what the etymology of the word banjo is. According to some links online there is a belief it stems from a similar african word. One of them:
quote:
banjo
1764, Amer.Eng., usually described as of African origin, probably akin to Bantu mbanza, an instrument resembling a banjo. The word has been influenced by colloquial pronunciation of bandore (1560s in English), a 16c. stringed instrument like a lute and an ancestor (musically and linguistically) of mandolin; from Port. bandurra, from L. pandura, from Gk. pandoura "three-stringed instrument." The origin and influence might be the reverse of what is here described.
quite interesting that the word itself is quite possibly related in an indirect way to 'mandolin'. Is this pretty much the accepted etymology? (not that I'd doubt the online etymology dictionary, mind you..) does anyone have the big oxford english dictionary? Does it say the same?
dmiller - Posted - 01/28/2010: 23:50:44
quote:
Originally posted by goldtopia
Etymology. Now, that is a big word. Sounds like the study of insects.
Bill.O
www.bluegrassminstrels.co.uk
etymology
late 14c., from Gk. etymologia, from etymon "true sense" (neut. of etymos "true," related to eteos "true") + logos "word." In classical times, of meanings; later, of histories. Latinized by Cicero as veriloquium. Related: Etymological; etymologically; etymologist.
renbo - Posted - 01/28/2010: 23:58:02
it just is what it is, kinda like the sound it makes...
Big Dan - Posted - 01/29/2010: 01:18:53
Not sure where I heard this, but I seem to remember reading that its name from an African instrument called the Bandore.
mojo_monk - Posted - 01/29/2010: 06:11:07
Great question! I'm glad you're interested.
For an in-depth study of this, check out this page: http://www.banjoroots.com/namegame.htm
Here are a few tidbits floating around in my head:
There are some who trace the origin to the word to mbanza, a Bantu word used by the Kimbuntu people of Nortern Angola. No coincidence that there was an instrument "discovered" in Haiti in 1840 which is called banza (see my profile picture).
Another significant term is Banshaw from the Wolof people of the Senegambian region of W. Africa. The Wolof were the first to be enslaved and taken to the "New World" by European slave traders and reports tell us that slavers specifically looked for musicians to bring on the long trans-Atlantic journey (to modern day Haiti and Dominican Republic). The Wolof also have another instrument believed by many to be an ancestor of the modern day banjo called the xalam.
There is also the Creole Bania "discovered" in Surinam (S. America) by a fella named Stedman in the 1770s. Google it for some pics.
Thomas Jefferson in his Notes on the State of Virginia of 1781, indicates that the "banjer" was the "instrument most proper to the plantation Negroes".
Sean
Edited by - mojo_monk on 01/29/2010 06:12:15
trapdoor2 - Posted - 01/29/2010: 06:11:49
IIRC, according to Greg Adams the neck of the Akonting (banjo precursor) is made of a reed (in the same family as papyrus) called 'banjo' (transliterated) in the Mandingo language common to West Africa. Basically, he went over to Gambia and learned how to play and make Akontings from the source...
This region (Gambia and the Gambia river region) was evidently the #1 place for obtaining slaves for the American market.
steve davis - Posted - 01/29/2010: 06:28:36
Some guy named Joe had a band.
BrittDLD1 - Posted - 01/29/2010: 09:11:44
Hi --
Bango Reed (or bangoe) is a type of papyrus, which grows on the shores of the Gambia
River. It's also called "spear reed", It is a segmented grass, and used in much the same
ways that bamboo is -- but doesn't grow nearly as tall, or large in diameter.
Among its many uses (including making fences) it is used for the necks of Akontings/
Ekontings, and has a unique rounded-triangular cross-section (much like the shape of
a flatpick)
When I first met Daniel Jatta, back in 2000, he pronounced the word much like "bongo"
(the drum) but with a very soft, gutteral "g" -- done at the back of the throat.
(Sort of like the glugging sound comedians make, when pretending to pour beer out
of a bottle...)
The best I can type it phonetically would be: "bahng'–goh"
Here are some articles Daniel wrote back around 2005-6:
http://web.comhem.se/abzu/akonting/civilwar.html
http://web.comhem.se/abzu/akonting/opening.html
Other possible words related related to derivation of "banjo":
Banjo -- the name of a city located in the country of Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast).
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&sou...4.633789&z=6
Banjo -- an African family name (surname)
Not sure of geogrraphical area, or tribe of origin
Banjul -- a city at the mouth of the Gambia river -- near where the Bango Reed grows.
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&sou...7.316895&z=7
Bango -- several cities located in Mali, Burka Faso, and West Africa
Go to google maps and type in "Africa - Bango"
Bango-Bango -- a tribe of the Lualaba region, near the Congo.
Bongo -- several cities located in Africa
Go to google maps and type in "Africa - Bongo"
Bongo -- a type of African Antelope
Etc.
Best-
Ed Britt
Edited by - BrittDLD1 on 01/29/2010 09:16:07
Brian T - Posted - 01/29/2010: 10:26:15
Might be useful to ask Bela Fleck. He went to Africa to find out and made a documentary about that.
EggerRidgeBoy - Posted - 01/29/2010: 12:16:36
The exact etymology of "banjo" is still unknown, although as discussed above there has been a lot of research on the subject in recent years, and much informed speculation.
The Banjo Roots site (http://www.myspace.com/banjoroots) is a good place to keep up with some of the latest research and writing on such topics.
Klondike Waldo - Posted - 01/29/2010: 17:13:54
quote:
Originally posted by goldtopia
Etymology. Now, that is a big word. Sounds like the study of insects.
Bill.O
www.bluegrassminstrels.co.uk
Entomology for what bugs you, or rather what's your bug?
Edited by - Klondike Waldo on 01/29/2010 17:17:04
BrittDLD1 - Posted - 01/29/2010: 21:19:24
Here in the Northeast, we have:
"Entenmology" --
That's the careful study, dissection, and analysis,
of Entenmann's coffee cakes... 
(Originally made in Brooklyn -- from which Shlomo Pestcoe
expounds on the origins of the Banjo.)
Best-
Ed Britt
Edited by - BrittDLD1 on 02/01/2010 12:12:15
geemott - Posted - 01/30/2010: 08:26:20
I have the big O.E.D. and just looked it up for ya. It derives the word from "banjore, a corruption of bandore." The earliest citation is Grainger, 1764, who calls it a banshaw.
Thought he O.E.D. is old and holds a lot of words, I would think more recent and in-depth scholarship is more definitive.
BrittDLD1 - Posted - 01/30/2010: 10:09:04
Umm... yes...
But once the African concept of the instrument came to the New World (probably
in the early-1500s) it began a transmutation into what would eventually be called
"The Banjo".
And "Banza" (probably from "mbanza") is already closer to "banjo" than
"bandore".
Bandore is a Portuguese word (I believe), and the Portuguese were some of the earliest
Europeans to be involved in the African slave trade. That's a European word
for a Lute-type instrument.
It's somewhat correct from a Euro-centric view of the scientific classification for
instrument organology. Since the Banjo and it's African antecedents ARE considered
to be members of the "plucked lutes". The Plucked Lutes basically include ANYTHING
with a neck, and a sounding box, where the strings are "stopped" on the neck, and
activated with the fingers or a plectrum.
(One COULD argue that a millenia BEFORE that, the Islamic Ud made it's way
to Iberia, perhaps by the Straights of Gibraltar, and influenced the development
of the Lute, Vihuela, Bandore, Bandurria, and Cittern [Portuguese guitar], etc.)
But there is no DIRECT connection to the New World slave trade, post-1500.
And it certainly doesn't help to determine any African derivation for the word
Banjo.
...The earliest citation is Grainger, 1764, who calls it a banshaw...
A bit too late... They were called "strum-strumps" before that -- Sloane's Voyage
to Jamaica, 1687 -- Pub. 1707 (Though again, that name has little to do with African
derivation.)
AND... to put it bluntly...
What the h*ll would some stuffy old Oxford dons know about the American Banjo
(or its African antecedents) anyway!  
It came to England, from the US, during the Minstrel boom of the 1840s... And it
was ALREADY called "The Banjo" at that point.
Best
Ed Britt
(Stuffy Old Boston Banjo don)
OK.. Technically the first-known US slave banjos to go to England were sent there
in the 1790s, from Maryland... (Don't have the citation at hand -- research "Halliday"
in Dena Epstein's book. )
Edited by - BrittDLD1 on 01/30/2010 12:50:23
madkelt2004 - Posted - 01/30/2010: 11:41:24
"Banjo" is an old Gaelic word meaning, "Bodhran with Pete Seeger neck".
EggerRidgeBoy - Posted - 01/30/2010: 14:23:29
From the Banjo Roots website:
What follows is a sampling of various different names for the early gourd banjo that appear in the historical record:
Strum-strump (Jamaica, 1687)
Bangil (Barbados, 1708; Jamaica, 1739)
Banger (New York City, 1736, the earliest report of the banjo in North America)
Strum-strum (Jamaica, 1740)
Bonja (Maryland, 1748)
Bangio (South Carolina, 1749)
Banjo (Pennsylvania, 1749; Maryland and Virginia, 1774; North Carolina, 1787)
Banshaw (St. Kitts, 1763)
Banza (French Antilles, 1765)
Creole Bania (Suriname, 1773-77)
Banjar (Virginia, 1781; Antigua, 1788; Barbados, 1796)
Bonjaw (Jamaica, 1823)
Edited by - EggerRidgeBoy on 01/30/2010 14:25:12
BrittDLD1 - Posted - 01/30/2010: 20:17:58
Lost a "Merrywang" in there somewhere...
E.B.
Sandy Bob - Posted - 02/01/2010: 07:06:49
I agree with Bill O. It sounds like the study of something I et and probably got a belly ache from. As mentioned above the early banjos were also called a Strum-strums and a Merrywang. Can you just imagine Lester Flatt on stage saying, "Now were going to have Earl come up and pick us a tune on his Strum-strum." Worse yet to have someone at a festival come up to you while you are walking along with your case and say, "Why don't you pull out your Merrywang and let's get it on". Oh Lord!
Bob Flesher
jim109b - Posted - 02/02/2010: 06:57:54
quote:
Originally posted by goldtopia
Etymology. Now, that is a big word. Sounds like the study of insects.
Bill.O
www.bluegrassminstrels.co.uk
It oly becomes the study of isects if your b--> <--m key is missig or stickig. Jim
DanielT - Posted - 02/02/2010: 13:41:20
quote:
Originally posted by EggerRidgeBoy
I always appreciate having that kind of detailed research added to a discussion such as this, so thanks for getting carried away in your response.
No problem! Hope someone finds it useful!
Edited by - DanielT on 02/02/2010 14:18:51
DanielT - Posted - 02/03/2010: 12:25:15
Another quick question: does anyone here know what the 1687 and 1740 sources for "strum-strump"/"strum strum" are? I wouldn't be surprised if they were related in some way á la merrywang...
spaz - Posted - 02/03/2010: 13:10:18
wow, great discussion. thanks daniel for the detailed blog entry.. and thanks britt for gettin my mind on coffeecakes..
i think its pretty common in language evolution for multiple terms for a single thing to exist.. english is a great example of this with its many french and english terms for similar concepts.. even after almost a thousand years! its also pretty common for a 'bastardization' of one term by people who dont necessarily speak the language to end up becoming common.. i always like to consider the word 'sherry' as an example of that..
it seems noteworthy that all the (academic) references to merrywang included 'or banja' (or similar). this may lend creedence to daniel's claim that the merrywang term was perhaps extremely localized in use. it may also indicate that some people (africans?) called it banja and others (british?) called it something else. i dont think it would be surprising to assume the term used by a minority who likely didn't play the instrument would die out, but i havent done the kind of research daniel has.
i do find it a bit surprising to see strum-strump being the oldest name in that list above, and its interesting that something like the term 'banja' didnt show up in jamaica for quite some time.. even though it seemed to be in common use elsewhere..
fascinating stuff..
so has anyone written a bainjer song called 'my merry wang' yet..?  
CoE15NJV - Posted - 02/03/2010: 18:35:50
Neanderthal #1: Hey guys, look what I just made! I stuck a stick through a drum and added some strings. I'm thinking of calling it a "banjo".
Neanderthal #2: That's kind of a snappy name. Its got my vote!
Australopithicus #1: I don't know...I kind of like "glockenspiel" a lot better!
spaz - Posted - 02/04/2010: 16:48:15
i thought it was the neanderthal that was from germany..
maybe it happened the other way around and one of them said, i'm gonna call it a bangon.. like so i can bang on your head, and then he did and the bangee went extinct..
BrittDLD1 - Posted - 02/07/2010: 12:37:50
quote:
Originally posted by DanielT
Another quick question: does anyone here know what the 1687 and 1740 sources for "strum-
strump"/"strum strum" are? I wouldn't be surprised if they were related in some way á la merrywang...
Sloane's Voyage to Jamaica 1687 -- Pub 1707 (Just Google: Sloane Jamaica - check images too) Full title: A Voyage to the Islands Madera, Barbados, Nieves, S. Christophers and Jamaica,
with the Natural History of the Herbs and Trees, Four-footed Beasts, Fishes, Birds,
Insects, Reptiles, etc. of the Last of those Islands.  . .  Best- Ed Britt Click to enlarge:
Edited by - BrittDLD1 on 02/07/2010 12:41:56
DanielT - Posted - 02/07/2010: 14:54:02
quote:
Originally posted by BrittDLD1
Sloane's Voyage to Jamaica 1687 -- Pub 1707
Ah, yes. THAT image...very familiar. And the 1740 source is The importance of Jamaica to Great-Britain, consider'd, images for which are not available on on Google Books. However this site seems to provide the relevant text and it's hard to divine a connection just from a quick comparison of two short passages...I think you'd have to find patterns between the two works writ large to make any real conclusion. However strum-strum shows up in other, later sources. One can find it in Memoirs of Capt. George Carleton, an English officer (1743, 1st ed. 1728?) where it reads, in the context of Spain: quote:
They have here, as well as in most other parts of Spain, Valencia expected, the most wretched music in the universe. Their guitars, if not their sole, are their darling instruments; and what they most delight in: though, in my onpnion, our English sailors are not much amiss in giving them the title of strum-strums. They are little better than our Jews-harp, though hardly half so musical.
A new collection of voyages, discoveries and travels (1767) in the context of central American (Honduras & Nicaraguan) "Indians." quote:
After the first salutation, they marched to-wards the church, (the priest, brought along by captain Davis, at the head of them) their only place of public meeting, whether for consultations or diversions, where they kept their visards, hautboys, strum-strums, (a kind of cittern) and other musical instruments. Here they meet to make merry, especially in the night preceding or next ensuing any holiday, where they dance, sing and play, with antic dresses and gestures; though, to speak truth, their music and mirth have something very melancholy in them, suitable to the yoke they groan under.
Both seem to have an Hispanophone connection...as would Sloane, possibly. Jamaica was Spanish up until 1655. It's not inconceivable that remnants of Spanish naming conventions could have remained through British occupation and that Sloane picked up on them. Again, this is entirely "off the top" and perhaps incorrect, but given my skepticism of the historical sources for banjo's etymology and these alternate sources (which may be entirely specious in their veracity) it's a direction that might bear some fruit if one were to look into it.
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